Always Love You
by samcarter2
Summary: This is an alternate universe story of the pilot episode with my own original characters and with guest appearances by the members of SG-1. Everett/OC


Author's Notes: I have read and admired a lot of authors' works here for many years. This is my first time to publish a story. I would like to thank everyone involved with the Stargate franchise for the many hours of entertainment over the years and would like to thank my friends and family for their encouragement.

Disclaimer: All characters and situations originating with SGU are not mine and will never be mine. I would also like to give credit to the people on who write the transcripts.

Always Love You

In a dead area of space where no man had been for centuries, there was a big ship with many components. It had been dark and desolate for a long time. Suddenly, the ship started to light up on the outside as well as the inside. If someone had been on the ship travelling through the corridors, the many lights would have eventually taken them to a room which had a large circle spinning. It would stop every few seconds, and one of the symbols on it would light up. Finally, all nine symbols lit up, and what looked like a pool of water spewed out of the circle.

A minute later, a young man in a military uniform came through the circle. He looked around bewilderingly with his gun half raised. Before he could react any further, two more people walked out of the circle and lost their balance. Then some boxes were thrown through, one of which bumped the young man, whose name was Lieutenant Scott, on the leg. After he pushed it out of the way, Scott helped the two people up and said, "We need to get out of the way. More people will be coming through."

Then people and more boxes and crates started coming through rapidly at a high velocity. Some of the people were uninjured while others landed on different parts of their bodies which resulted in injuries. At one point, Scott called out on his walkie-talkie, "Slow down the evac! They're coming in too fast!"

Either they didn't hear him or weren't paying attention because people and boxes kept coming through. Scott and the other military personnel did their best to keep the area clear and to help the civilians. A stocky young man, whose name was Eli, stumbled through the circle. He patted his shoulders and hips to make sure he was still in one piece, and then sidestepped to avoid another crate that flew through. After that, a young woman walked through helping an older man. Her name was Chloe. She asked the older man, who was her father, "Are you OK, Dad?" He nodded briefly, and they moved out of the way. A woman in her mid-30's then walked through the circle. She had medium-length brown hair tied in a pony tail and was carrying a duffel bag. Turning back towards the circle, she waited as if she knew someone else would be coming through.

Three additional military personnel came through the circle. Scott called out to the one in the middle, "Greer, where's the colonel?"

Greer looked back towards the circle and said, "He was right behind me."

In the next instant, a man flew through the circle and landed hard on the opposite side of the room. The circle shut off, and the room was plunged into darkness. Everyone gasped, and some people started to panic. Lights started coming on though as the military personnel turned on their flashlights. Scott and Greer made their way to the colonel with Scott yelling, "Out of the way! Out of the way!"

When he reached him, Scott assessed the situation, touched the colonel's arm and said, "Colonel Young, Colonel Young."

The colonel weakly opened his eyes and said, "Where are we?"

Scott said, "I don't know, Sir."

Young tried to lift his head up from where Scott was supporting it and managed an inch before he had to lay back down. Fighting to remain conscious and knowing he would not succeed, he said to Scott, "You're in charge." As darkness once more claimed him, he murmured in a soft voice, "Love you always, Missy Boo."

Scott, not understanding the last comment, looked at him quizzically and then said, "Yes Sir."

He took his hand from the back of Young's head, and he and Greer both noticed it was covered with blood. "TJ!" yelled Scott, Get over here, the colonel's down!"

As the medic rushed over, the colonel's mind went spinning back to four months ago. It was a perfect summer day in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The neighborhood where the MItchell's home was located was normally a quiet one, but on this day, the sounds of Rascal Flatts were emanating from the large backyard where a game of five-on-five touch football was being played. The first team consisted of Colonel Samantha Carter, Dr. Daniel Jackson, Vala Mal Duran, Colonel Cameron Mitchell, and Murray (also known as Teal'c in the Cheyenne Mountain Complex where they all worked). The second team included Colonel Everett Young, Dr. Melissa Mitchell, Captain Peter O'Reilly, Sergeant Jennifer Wilson, and Wilson's husband Curt. There was also a cheering section consisting of Captain O'Reilly's wife Lisa, Michael and Patricia Somers, and Colonel Young's wife Anna. The Mitchell's had decided to invite everyone over as this was the last day before Sam and all of the military and science personnel on team 2 were heading off to new assignments. Little did the spouses and other guests in the cheering section know that their friends and loved ones would actually being going to another planet on one of Earth's newest space ships. For the past 12 years, the American military had run a secret base out of Cheyenne Mountain which housed something called a stargate. The stargate allowed travel between other planets by establishing a wormhole between the two planets. This had enabled Earth to form alliances with friendly races. There had also been times of war with unfriendly races that had brought Earth to the brink of destruction on many occasions. Fortunately, it was a calm time out in the galaxy now, and Earth was taking the opportunity to establish a scientific base which Colonel Young was taking temporary command of, and his science team was going with him so they could work on something called the Ninth Chevron address.

That afternoon, though, the goal was relaxation. It was a critical moment in the game. The score was tied 14 all, and team 2 had the ball. Everett was acting as the quarterback, and as he looked down the field, he noticed Peter and Curt running blocks while Melissa and Jennifer were running toward the goal. Melissa ran past her husband, Cameron, and to distract him, she flashed him. After his attention was diverted, Everett threw her the ball, and she reached the goal and scored. "Yippee!" she yelled, "We won!" Everyone on her team ran down to congratulate her with hugs and high-fives all around.

The other team walked up to shake their hands, and Cameron said, "That is so not fair."

"But you walked right into it, Cam," chuckled Sam.

The others agreed laughing and walked back over to the cheering section arm in arm not noticing that Anna didn't seem particularly happy about the attention that Everett was paying to Melissa. When they got to the group, Cam said, "How about we put those steaks and burgers on the grill?" The guys went into the kitchen to get the meat and walked it back outside while Melissa, Sam, Vala, and Patti put together the fixings inside the kitchen. Outside, on the porch, Anna was talking to Lisa, Michael, and Curt. She asked, "Don't you ever wonder what they do up at the mountain?"

Curt said, "No, not really. It's classified."

"But your wife works up there."

"I knew when I married a military spouse that things being classified were part of the deal. You should know that too, right?"

Instead of answering the question, Anna looked at Lisa and asked, "Do you feel the same way?"

Lisa said, "Of course."

Michael piped up, "Anna, you know Patti's dad and your sister Melissa's adopted dad for that matter, commanded that base for years. None of them knew what happened up there at least until Melissa started working at the base, and she's never told any of us either because it's classified."

Anna said, "I'm starting to hate feeling like all of them know some big secret that I can't be a part of."

Curt replied, "You really need to get that out of your head if you want your marriage to work."

"That's just it, Curt," Anna stated softly, "I'm not sure I want to be married anymore."

The conversation was cut short by the return of the guys with the meat and the other girls coming out with the fixings. They all sat at the large picnic table and began to eat. Both teams had gathered like this for awhile, and the spouses got along pretty well too so there was a lot of laughing and talking as they made quick work of the meal. After they were finished, Vala stood up and said, "Who's up for a movie? We brought Star Wars."

Murray got up and said, "I would be happy to assist you in putting that in the DVD player, Vala Mal Duran."

The rest of the group got up and walked inside towards the living room where Everett and Anna had quietly retreated just a few minutes before. Patti stopped them when she heard raised voices coming from the living room. Anna screamed, "Everett, if you don't tell me what you do in that mountain right now, you can consider this marriage over!"

Everett yelled just as loudly, "I can't tell you, Anna! It's classified! If you feel that way, just go!"

"I'll do that, Everett. You'll have divorce papers by the time you come back."

Melissa pushed through the rest of the group and looked squarely at her sister. She said, "You're making a mistake, Anna. You're giving up a great guy."

"I might be, but it's my mistake to make." She ran out of the house, got into her car, and sped away.

The rest of the group looked at each other in shock. Everett looked at his teammates and his friends and said, "I'm so sorry. You guys can watch your movie. I want to be alone for a little while. So glad I planned to leave from here and brought my bag with me." He left and walked sadly towards the kitchen. At that moment the phone rang. Cam picked it up and spoke into it for several seconds. When he hung it up, he turned to the rest of them and said, "Sam, Daniel, Murray, Vala, and I have to go to the base." As they all gathered their stuff, Cam quietly murmured in his wife's ear, "Mission brief for SG-1. We're shipping out as soon as the brief is done. You all ready for tomorrow?"

She murmured just as quietly, "Sure am. Peter and Jennifer are meeting us here in the morning. I think I need to stay here with Ev to make sure he's ready too."

"Agreed. Be careful out there and I'll see you in a couple of months." He kissed her on the cheek, and the members of SG-1 walked out the door. Peter came up to her and said, "The rest of us have decided to leave too. What time are we meeting in the morning?"

"O800."

He looked back towards the kitchen and asked, "Are you going to need any help with the colonel?"

Melissa answered, "Nope, we'll be ready."

"Ok, sounds good." Then Peter, Lisa, Curt, Jennifer, Michael, and Patti all walked out with the ones not going wishing Melissa a good tour.

After they left, Melissa walked back to the kitchen and saw Everett sitting at the table with a beer in his hand taking the first swigs from the can. He looked up at her and said, "Where is everyone?"

"Gone. Peter and Jennifer are meeting us here at 0800."

He muttered, "You don't have to babysit me."

"Are you kidding, Ev? I'm concerned about you. We've been teammates and friends, I thought, for seven years. We were close before I even knew Anna was my sister. I don't know how many times we've saved each other's lives, oh, and by the way, I think she's being stupid."

He looked up at her with a sad, tender smile and said, "Yeah, we sure have been through a lot together.

She sat down at the table with him and said, "What's your poison?"

"Well, I've got this beer, but shouldn't one of us stay sober?"

"As long as the alarm clocks are set, I think we'll be fine. And Peter and Jennifer will bust down the door if we don't come out. The Hammond's not actually leaving until 1000. We're doing briefings first. Let me take care of making sure everything is off in the backyard and locking the house. Then I will join you." She walked out back, made sure the grill was off, and walked around the house locking the doors. After looking out the window at the beginnings of a gorgeous sunset, she walked back to the kitchen where Everett was sitting at the table.

She grabbed a beer from the refrigerator, and they started drinking. Everett poured out his heart to her for awhile, and then they reminisced about everything their team had done together—the good times and the bad as well. A song started playing on the CD player that Melissa had left running. It was Every Day by Rascal Flatts. They listened to the first stanza. "You could have bowed out gracefully, but you didn't. You knew enough to know to leave well enough alone, but you wouldn't." Ev held out his hand to Melissa as it continued playing, "Will you dance with me?" he asked. She looked up at the man who was her best friend, who she shared a bond with like no other person, smiled, and said, "Yes, I will."

They swayed around the room as the song continued playing. "I drive myself crazy tryin' to stay out of my own way. The messes that I made, but my secrets are so safe. The only one who gets me, yeah you get me. It's amazin' to me. How every day, every day, every day you save my life. I come around all broken down and crowded out, and you're a comfort. Sometimes the place I go is so deep and dark and desperate, I don't know I don't know how every day, every day, every day, you save my life. Sometimes I swear I don't know if I'm comin' or goin', but you always say something without even knowing that I'm hanging onto to your words with all of my might, and it's alright, yeah, I'm alright for one more night."

As the song went into its final chorus, Ev spun her around the room one more time, and then they stopped and sat on the sofa to catch their breath once the song ended. He gently took both of her hands in his and said, "You know, Missy Boo, the words of that song, that's how I feel about you. That's how I've always felt, not like a brother or a best friend, but like someone whose soul is connected with mine." Sensing that she was speechless, he gathered his courage which was emboldened by the alcohol and continued, "If I had had enough courage, I would have told you this before you married Cameron, and we would have hurt one less person." He stopped and waited for her to react.

Melissa was speechless partly because of the alcohol and partly because she knew he was right, but, at the same time, she didn't want to hurt Cameron. She said in a shaky voice as she turned her head away, "I don't know, Ev."

He used his hand to turn her head back to him. "I think you do, Melissa. You just don't want to admit it." He then lowered his head to her lips and thoroughly kissed them. With that, she was completely gone and just as eagerly kissed him back. It didn't take long for things to get intense. They made their way back to the bedroom helping each other out of different articles of clothing as they went. First, she lifted his shirt off his head and pressed her fingers against his back as she continued to kiss him. Then he unbuttoned her blouse gently touching and kissing each piece of skin as it was revealed. At the bedroom door, Everett looked at Melissa with dark, intent eyes and said, "I want you, Melissa. Right here, right now."

Gazing back at him with desire-filled eyes, she said, "I want you too, Ev." They finished undressing each other, got on the bed, and, fueled by the alcohol, made wild, passionate love for what seemed like hours. When they were done, they fell asleep in each other's arms. Around midnight, Melissa woke up feeling very sick. She stumbled around, grabbed and put on a t-shirt that was on the floor, and made her way to the bathroom where she proceeded to throw up in the toilet. Five minutes later, she nearly jumped to the ceiling as she felt someone hold her medium length brown hair back behind her neck. "Whoa," the voice said, "It's just me, Babe."

She turned around to see Everett gazing down at her with a concerned look on his face. Making sure she was done being sick, she got up shakily and proceeded to almost fall again. Ev caught her and asked, "Are you ok?"

"Don't know yet," she mumbled. She then noticed how they were both dressed, and said, "I didn't dream that, did I?"

"No, you didn't, Babe. Come on; let's sit on the bed and talk."

They walked over to the bed and situated themselves. Melissa took a deep breath and said, "You know, we have good timing, don't we?"

"What do you mean?" Everett asked.

"Dammit Ev! Where are we going tomorrow? I admitted I loved you earlier, and now, I can't even touch you for four months without risking our reputations and careers." Melissa's shoulders shook with anguished sobs.

Everett leaned forward and took her in his arms. "Oh, baby, it'll be ok; it'll be okay. Shh." He realized something, leaned back and looked at her face. "Wait a minute. What did you say?"

Melissa replied with a soft smile, "I said I loved you."

He brought her close to him again in a hug, and she could feel the waves of relief emanating off of him. "I love you too, baby. I know I don't deserve it, but I will spend the rest of my days proving it to you. Oh, and you don't need to worry about our tour. We'll need to be careful, but I will spend time with you even if it's at three in the morning."

"Thanks Ev." She looked at the clock which said 12:30 and said, "I guess we should get some more sleep."

"Not yet, sweetheart." He grinned at her. "I want to show you exactly how much I love you without alcohol fueling it this time.

Melissa flashed that smile at him that he loved so much and said, "Oh really." She reached for him, and they began kissing and caressing each other once more showing the love that had taken seven years for them to admit. They finished and rested on the bed enjoying the feeling of being in each other's arms. Eventually, they fell asleep again, not waking up until the alarm went off at 6. Everett told Melissa to rest for a few more minutes while he took his shower. He then woke her up with a gentle kiss to let her know that it was her turn. While she was showering, Ev went to the kitchen to rustle up some breakfast for both of them. The phone rang, and he answered it, saying, "Mitchell residence." There was silence on the other end and then a click and dial tone. He shook his head and said to himself, 'That must have been a wrong number.' A few minutes later, Melissa came up behind him as he was scrambling eggs and put her arms around his waist. "Good morning, sweetheart."

Everett laid down the spatula, turned around, and hugged her close. "Good morning to you. You sound happy. Did you sleep well?"

"I ought to knock you upside the head, you twit," Melissa answered with a chuckle. "What do you think?"

"I think my life did a major turn-around for the better last night, that's what I think." They kissed deeply; then Melissa pointed to the oven and said, "You best watch those eggs."

He turned back around and finished cooking the eggs. Then Melissa helped him take the rest of the food to the table where they sat down and began eating. It didn't take them long to finish, and they took their dishes and put them in the dishwasher. After they had completed loading it and Melissa had started it, she turned to Everett and asked, "Can we do something before we leave?"

He said, "Sure Babe, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, we don't have a picture of just the two of us. I was wondering if we could take one with my camera, and then print out two copies—one for me and one for you."

"I'd like that." Everett walked over to the sofa while Melissa placed the camera on top of the television and set the automatic feature. She then ran over and sat on the sofa. Ev put his arm around her, and they both smiled as the camera took the picture. When it was done, she glanced at her watch and saw that it was 0745. She said, "Ev, I'll print these out if you'll get our bags out of the bedroom."

"You got it, sweetheart." He walked back to the bedroom while Missy took the photo disc out of the camera and put it in the computer. By the time he came back with the bags, she had printed out two copies one of which she handed to him. He took it from her, put it in his shirt pocket, and then saw where she had stepped back and hugged herself. Everett knew this look well as this is what she did when she was worried or upset. He held out his arms and said, "Come here, baby," and took her into a hug which she returned. "You know, we're going to be ok no matter what, don't you?"

"Yes, I know," she answered.

The doorbell rang, and he said, after kissing her on the forehead, "Ok, time for the office face."

Everett went and opened the door, and it was Peter and Jennifer. "Hey guys, we'll be ready in just a minute." The new arrivals greeted Melissa while Ev was grabbing the bags. They were about to walk out the door when Jennifer, who had noticed the new comfort level Melissa and Everett had with one another, said, "Wait a minute. Peter, I think you owe me $50."

"And how exactly do you figure that, Jen?" he replied.

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, those two," she pointed to Melissa and Everett, "admitted their feelings to each other last night and might have even acted on them."

Everett closed the door and gazed at Jennifer steadily. "Do you mean the two of you actually had a bet on Missy and me?"

"Well, Sir, the answer to that would be yes. Actually Peter, General O'Neill, and I were sitting in the back row when Melissa married Cameron, and the bet was made between the three of us. So, are you going to answer the question, Sir?"

Before answering, Ev contemplated the three of them standing there and then looked at Missy who nodded her head in approval. She said, "They'd be the only ones I would trust with this right now, Ev."

"Ok, Jennifer, the answer to your question is, yes, Missy and I did admit our feelings to each other last night, and yes, we did act on them."

"I knew it!" Jennifer exclaimed. She turned to Peter, "Time to pay up, dude."

As Peter got out his wallet grumbling about how he could never win a bet with Jennifer, Everett cleared his throat and said to the two younger members of his team, "This is important, you two, what I just said can't go any further. While it is true my soon-to-be ex-wife made her feelings quite clear last night, Cameron does not know yet, and I think Melissa would prefer to be the one to tell him and for him not to find out through the rather efficient gossip network of the SGC, right, Babe?" He put his arm around Missy's waist.

"Right, Ev."

Peter said, "You can count on us, boss," as Jennifer nodded her head in agreement.

"Ok, we need to get going." The four of them walked out of the house, got into Everett's SUV, and started driving towards Cheyenne Mountain. It took about 20 minutes. Right before they got to the guard station, Ev gave Missy's hand an encouraging squeeze and winked at her. They then put on their 'office faces' as he had called it earlier. It didn't take long for the guard to check their ID's and send them on their way into the complex which was 28 floors underground. They got off the elevator where a lieutenant was waiting for them. He saluted Colonel Young who saluted back and then told him, "Sir, Dr. Rush is waiting for you to finalize the last details."

The colonel turned to the other three members of his team and said, "I will see you at the briefing in 30 minutes," after which he hurried off with the lieutenant. Melissa said to the others, "Let's get out gear stowed, and make sure the equipment is stowed properly as well. There's some clerk on Level 15 who's probably still got ringing ears from the tongue lashing Peter gave him a couple of months back when half of his storage tubes were broken after not being packed properly in the backpacks."

She and Jennifer both grinned at Peter who was wearing a rather off-putting look. He whined, "But he deserved it." Then he realized the girls were teasing him. They went to the equipment room and made sure Melissa's botanist equipment and Peter's geologist equipment was packed properly. By the time they had done that, gotten out-fitted with weapons, and put their gear in the pile to be beamed up to the ship, it was time for the briefing. The people who were at the briefing included: Dr. Rush, Colonel Young, General O'Neill, General Landry, Colonel Telford, and the three science teams. All of the other military personnel and maintenance personnel for the base had already been beamed up to the Hammond. Colonel Carter had come back from SG-1's emergency mission to take command of Earth's newest space ship. The two generals wished them luck, and then like that, it was time to go.

After beaming to the ship, it seemed that the team was busy every minute for the rest of the day. Peter and Melissa made sure their scientific equipment had made it to the correct places while Jennifer participated in weapons drills with the security team. The next time they all met up again was at chow time that night. Sitting down at one of the tables with their 'meat loaf specials', they saved a place for Everett in case he was able to join them which he did five minutes later looking rather tired, but seeming to be in good humor. He said, "Hey guys, how's it going?" giving Melissa a grin and a wink.

"Pretty good, Sir," she replied, grinning and winking back at him. "Things seem to be running pretty smoothly on the scientific side, and I think the security drills ran well too, right, Jen?"

Jennifer said, "Yes," as they all began eating. After taking his first bite, Ev said, "Well, it sure is a big effort keeping all that running smoothly. Commanding a base is a lot more work than just commanding the three of you."

Peter stated, "Well, you know you can count on us, Sir," as the girls nodded in agreement."

"Yes, I know," Everett replied. The group continued to eat, and right before they were done, an announcement came over the loudspeaker, "Colonel Young, to the briefing room. Colonel Young, to the briefing room."

"Well, duty calls once more," Everett picked up his tray to take to the disposal. "We have a briefing in the morning at 0800. Have a good night."

They said their good-byes, and then Melissa told Peter and Jen, "I think I'm going to bed. I'm exhausted, and we have a busy day tomorrow." The three of them walked out of the mess and went in different directions. Melissa walked back to her quarters and got ready for bed. She hung her uniform in the closet, took a quick shower, and then put on a pair of Academy sweats and t-shirt. Not knowing if Ev would be able to join her that evening, she decided to get a little bit of work reading in, taking out one of her professional journals. A little while later the sound of her door chime woke her from the nap she had taken. She quietly said, "Enter," the door opened, and it was Everett, carrying a small bag, who said, "Hi Babe."

Missy went to him, and they gave each other a long hug. She said, "Hi, sweetheart. You look exhausted."

"I am exhausted, but I was not going to miss the chance to at least hold you while we slept."

She replied with a soft smile, "That sounds good to me."

Ev took off his uniform, hung it in the closet, and then went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. When he came out, he told Melissa, "I put some of my things in the back of your cabinet."

"That's fine." She watched as he put on a pair of sweats and t-shirt as well. After that, he came and got in the bed with Melissa who had already extinguished the lights. Cradling her in a protective embrace, it didn't take long for either Ev or Missy to fall asleep.

They fell into a similar pattern in the days and nights that followed during their week trip to Icarus Base with the days being very busy coordinating all of the scientific and military details of the new base and the nights cherishing the time they got to be just Everett and Melissa. On about the fourth night, they did have a good scare though. They had gone to bed as usual, but somehow, Ev's radio had gotten turned off. At 2 in the morning, Missy's door chimes rang urgently. She asked sleepily, "Who is it?"

Jennifer replied, "It's Jen, let me in, Missy, it's important."

Missy let her in, and Jen walked over to the bed where Ev had also just woken up. "I'm so sorry, Sir. I figured you would probably be here. Peter radioed me. Colonel Carter is trying to find you, and you weren't answering your radio. Colonel Telford 'volunteered' to find you. I thought I should find you first."

While Jennifer was talking, Everett was fumbling around for his radio. He found it and saw where it had been turned off. "Shit!" he cursed. "Thanks for coming, Jen." He scrambled out of the bed and started dressing. "Let me go and find out what Carter wants."

"You should," said Melissa. He finished dressing, gave her a kiss, and said, "See you later, Babe. I don't know if I'll be back tonight or not."

"That's fine. Come to breakfast if you can."

"Sounds good." He then hurried out the door. Melissa turned to Jen and said, "Want to stay for a few minutes? I won't be going back to sleep for awhile."

"Sure," she answered. Melissa got out of the bed, folded Ev's night clothes, and put them in the back of her closet after which she sat back down on the bed across from where Jennifer had sat in the chair. "Melissa, can I ask you a question?"

"Of course, you can ask me anything, Jen."

"Are you happy? I mean, happy with the colonel."

A slow smile came over Missy's face. "Yes, I am, Jen. It's so hard to imagine. We completely complement each other. I realize now that I should have never married Cam. I care for Cam deeply, but I don't love him."

"You know, that's what General O'Neill said when you married Cam; that he didn't think it would last because of your bond with Colonel Young."

"I wonder why he didn't tell me that."

"Well, it was probably because you had just regained your memory and realized that Colonel Young's wife was your sister, and you didn't want to hurt her."

"You're probably right. Why did you ask; I mean about me being happy?"

"I was wondering if the sneaking around was worth it."

Melissa thought for a moment before responding. "It's not my first choice, Jen. I know technically it shouldn't be a problem because I'm not military, but we are both still married to other people. And the powers that be probably wouldn't want us assigned to the same team. I'm not ready to give that up yet either hence the sneaking around." She looked over at her friend who had put her head in her hands. "Jen, what's wrong?"

She replied, "Well, we have one more problem that you and the colonel don't have. We're both military."

"Oh," said Melissa. "Wait a minute, you're not talking about you and Peter, are you?"

Jennifer answered with a smile, "Yes, I am. The four of us have been a team for seven years, and I know you understand the kind of bonds we have all built together because you have them with the colonel. Peter and I talked a couple of nights ago, and we decided we didn't want to waste anymore time. We've been treasuring our moments together ever since."

"I can't argue with treasuring your moments," said Melissa, "but please, be careful. Ev and I will do whatever we can to cover for you. Is it ok if I tell him?"

"Yes, you can tell him. I need to go. Peter's about to go off shift, and we're going to go treasure some moments."

"Sounds good, I'll talk to you later on. And thanks for tonight."

"You're welcome." They hugged, and Jennifer headed out for her quarters. Melissa went back to sleep and ended up not seeing Everett until the next morning at chow time. He gave her a tired smile as he sat down and started eating. She asked, "Is everything ok, Sir?"

"It is," he replied, "just lots and lots and lots of details." He lowered his voice so only she could hear it. "I need to talk with you privately before you go to the lab."

"Ok," she said in a low voice. They then continued to talk about matters relating to the base in normal tones. Colonel Telford and a few members of one of the other science teams sat down with them. Melissa and one of the other scientists got into a lively discussion about the possibility of earth-like planets being at the other end of the Ninth Chevron address. They both agreed that it was possible, but disagreed on the types of plants and animals that would be there; Melissa thinking they would be more earth-like while the other scientist thought they would be more alien. She finished her meal and told the person, whose name was Dr. Rogers, "I have an article that Dr. Rodney McKay wrote about the subject. Would you be interested in seeing it?"

"Yes," he replied.

"Ok, it's in my quarters. I'll bring it to you in the lab." She said to Telford and Young, "Good day, Sirs," and told the other scientists that she would see them shortly. Five minutes later she was at her quarters rummaging through her bag. She heard a soft chime at the door and said, "Enter."

It was Everett who shook his head disgustedly. "This sneaking around is going to get old fast."

Melissa said, "What's wrong, sweetheart?" as she gave him a hug.

He started pacing around the room. "After Carter told me what she wanted last night, she said, 'Everett, I have a feeling that something else is going on, but I do not want to know. Just to warn you though, if Telford finds out, he will chew your ass up and spit it out. He wants your command.'

"What!" exclaimed Melissa, "he's got command of the team going through to the Ninth Chevron address if Dr. Rush figures it out."

"Yes, I know," said Ev, "the man's just being greedy."

"Well, if you don't want to sleep together for a few nights, I'm ok….."

"Not a chance, baby," interrupted Ev. He grinned at her. "I've always wanted the chance to practice my ninja skills. I just wanted to let you know in case Telford started asking you questions."

"I appreciate that. And I've got something to tell you. After you left last night, Jen stayed for awhile, and we talked. Let's just say you and I are being a stellar example to our younger teammates."

"Huh," said Ev. Then it dawned on him. "You're talking about Peter and Jen. Are they together now too?

"They are," said Missy.

"Well," said Ev, "I'm certainly not going to begrudge them their chance at happiness. I'll get with Peter later so we can coordinate keeping the rest of the ship away from us. We will just need to be very careful. I don't want to spend time in Leavenworth."

"All right," replied Missy. "I need to get to the lab. See you later on."

"You can count on it, Babe," said Ev. They hugged, kissed, and then left Missy's quarters one at a time. Melissa headed for the lab. When she got there, she handed the article to Dr. Rogers and began working with the other scientists on some complex biological and math equations related to the Ninth Chevron address. About 15 minutes later, she noticed Colonel Telford entering the lab. He talked to each scientist about their work, but she could definitely tell he was headed her way. Melissa thought to herself, 'I guess it's show time.' She said out loud, "Hello Colonel Telford. What can I do for you?"

He answered, "Good morning again, Dr. Mitchell. I was wondering if you had a minute."

"Of course," she replied.

They walked over to a corner of the lab where they wouldn't disturb anyone else. Telford asked, "What can you tell me about Colonel Young?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think I'm being pretty straightforward," he said.

"Well, I've been on SG-16 with him, Captain O'Reilly, and Sergeant Wilson for seven years. He's a fine commanding officer. He's saved my ass more than once, and I trust him implicitly."

She threw that one out to see what kind of reaction she would get, and Telford didn't disappoint her. "No, no, I'm not saying he's done anything wrong, I just wanted to see what the people who've known him the longest think of him."

"I have the highest respect for him, Sir, and I don't think he would have been selected for this command if the people responsible for making those kinds of decisions thought anything less." She thought to herself, 'There, take that!'

"Ok, well, I appreciate your time, Doctor Mitchell. Carry on." Telford turned and walked out of the lab. Melissa bent down over her work again, but her mind was racing. 'So, he's looking for dirt. I probably should warn Jen.'

She stood up and said out loud, "Does anyone want any coffee?" Two of the other scientists said yes so Melissa headed over to the mess. When she walked in, she saw Jennifer and Peter and waved. After she got the three coffees, she stopped at the table and warmly greeted her teammates. "I can only sit for a minute." In a lower voice, she said, "Telford's snooping about the colonel. He's already been to see me, and he'll probably see the two of you next. If you do the standard I respect Colonel Young as my team lead speech, which should put him off."

"You got it, Missy," said Jen, and Peter nodded his head in agreement as well. Missy asked Peter, "Are you headed for the lab?"

He replied, "Yes, we just finished."

"Ok, you can help me with these coffees then." They said good-bye to Jennifer and went to the lab. After giving the other scientists their coffee, they got started with the work that needed to be done. The next three days passed in the same fashion. On the seventh day, the ship reached Icarus Base, and all of the personnel began the job of unloading the supplies and getting everything set up correctly which was a big job considering there would be over 100 people stationed there. It took about two to three days for everything to be completed and for things to calm down so the actual work could begin. Dr. Rush complained the whole time as he tended to be focused on his work and didn't understand all of the logistics involved in setting up the new base. It did get finished though, and they were able to start working.

That first morning Melissa, Peter, and several of the other scientists were working in the lab with Dr. Rush. Melissa had just finished a complex mathematical equation on her white board when Dr. Rush walked up behind her and said, "No, Dr. Mitchell, that is all wrong," and then erased it before she could stop him.

Taking a couple of deep breaths, she noticed Everett coming up behind them, the expression on his face thunderous. She shook her head briefly letting him know that she would handle it. She said to Dr Rush, "I would not erase your work without your permission, and I would appreciate the same consideration."

He replied, "But it was wrong."

"Nevertheless, I expect you to be considerate. Do we understand each other?" She held his gaze directly letting him know that she was not going to back down.

"Oh, all right," he answered and walked back over to his own work.

Later that evening, Missy was in her quarters relaxing when the door chime sounded. She said, "Enter," and it was Ev who greeted her with a warm smile, "Hi Babe."

She said, "Hi sweetheart," got up from her chair eagerly and walked into his outstretched arms as they hadn't been able to spend any time alone together since arriving at Icarus. After a gentle hug and kiss, they sat down on the small couch together. She asked him, "How's it going?"

"I think things are finally coming together," he replied. "Telford got bored because he couldn't find any dirt on me. I suggested he run drills with the pilots."

Missy said, "It sounds like he doesn't take well to inactivity."

"No, he doesn't, but enough with him. I think I have thrown him off the track enough to where we can spend time together again."

"That's wonderful! I've missed you." said Missy.

Everett replied, "Oh, by the way, I have to compliment you for this morning with Dr. Rush. You're the only scientist he hasn't run roughshod over yet. I think the rest of them are afraid of him."

Missy smirked, "I have a commanding officer who I've had to learn how to handle over the past seven years."

"Really," said Ev bringing her close to him, "and exactly" he kissed her neck, "how" he kissed her neck again "have you done that?"

"Ok, Ev, if you're going to make me nuts, you need to make it worth my while."

"Gladly," he replied leading her over to the bed. As the passion between them grew, she marveled at how all her feelings of passion, love, and contentment could co-exist. And with that, the happiest months of her life began. The work she was doing was quite challenging, and spending the evenings with her friends and the man she loved was an added bonus. Peter had managed to pack a Wii which proved to be wildly popular with everyone who found out about it. The bowling tournaments they set up were all hotly contested with Jen and Peter being the winner of most of them.

Two months into their tour, though, the scientists hadn't made a lot of progress in figuring out how to dial the Ninth Chevron address. After many arguments about how to proceed, they came up with the idea of imbedding the problem in a video game back on Earth to see if someone might have a fresh approach. Dr. Rush went back to coordinate the effort with General O'Neill. It took about a month for the problem to be put in a game, and then all they had to do was wait. Meanwhile, back on Icarus, the scientists were able to get valuable information on how old the planet was from samples that Peter collected of the planet's surface. Also, Melissa and Peter gained the respect of many of the military contingent when they participated in the weapons drills and did well.

Seven weeks after Dr. Rush left, the base received word that he was on his way back with a young man who had actually solved the problem in the video game. He was hopeful that the solution would allow them to dial the gate and make a connection to the Ninth Chevron address. That night, Melissa begged off the bowling tournament as she was not feeling well. A few minutes later her door chime rang. It was Everett with a bowl of chicken noodle soup. He walked it over to the bed as Melissa sat up. "My mom used to say chicken noodle soup was always good for what ails you so you need to eat up, sweetheart."

She accepted it with a grateful smile. "Thanks Ev. I don't know why I feel so yucky. Looks like we're almost done here though."

"It sure does. I'll be glad to get back to Earth. Did I tell you I got the divorce papers in the last mail packet?"

Missy replied after taking a couple of sips of soup, "No, you didn't, but I'm not surprised Anna acted so fast. When we were kids, she always had to have her own way."

Ev pulled something out of his pocket. "I was going to wait until you were feeling better. In the packet, there were also several pieces of my mother's jewelry. I know you still need to talk to Cameron, but I wanted to give you something as a promise." He got down on his knee. "Melissa, for the past four months, I have been the happiest man alive. I love you with all my heart." He opened up his hand, and she could see a beautiful sapphire ring. "Will you marry me?"

Overcome with emotion, Missy could barely speak. She placed the soup bowl on the night stand and then nodded her head up and down, and so there could be no mistake, she said, "Yes, I will, Ev. I love you so much." She held her hand out, and he placed it on her finger. They looked at it for a moment, and then she said, "Wearing it there is probably not a good idea."

He smiled and motioned to her neck. "Tags, put it with your tags."

"I don't know why I didn't think of that." Missy took the ring off her finger, and handed it and her tags to Ev so he could fasten it around her neck. Once he was finished, he leaned back and admired his handiwork. He said, "That ring is perfect for you. I like how it matches your eyes."

"Thanks sweetheart," she replied and began to eat her soup. When she was finished, Everett took the tray and put it on her night stand. Melissa watched as he went into the bathroom to get ready for bed. She said, "Ok, two questions. Are you done for the night?

He turned back towards her, "Yep, Telford's taking the second shift. We've come to an understanding. He stays out of my business, and I stay out of his. What's the second question?"

"Are you sure you want to stay with me tonight? I'm worried that you'll catch something."

He replied, "Yes, I do. Missy, I want to take care of you. You don't need to be stubborn with me. Besides, Rush and our guests will be here in a few days. You need to be in top form."

"That's right," she said. "Senator Armstrong is coming. Something about making sure that the US is getting a good return on its investment." Missy rolled her eyes at Ev after making the last statement. She chuckled, "Politicians are all alike. Ok, ok, Ev, you can take care of me. I was hoping you'd stay anyway."

He laughed, "Glad to hear you say that, Babe, because I wasn't taking no for an answer." He finished getting ready and climbed into the bed with her.

A few days later Melissa and just about everyone else on the base were waiting for their official guests to beam down from the Hammond. She noticed Everett pacing at the base entrance and heard him say into his radio, "Lieutenant Scott, what's your 20?" He waited another minute and then said, "Whatever you are doing, Lieutenant, drop it and get up here NOW!"

Melissa glanced over at Peter who was trying his best not to laugh. She understood that completely because she was resisting the urge herself. Their team had gelled so well over the years because the two of them and Jennifer had learned how to work with the colonel's command style.

The sound of the beaming device interrupted any further reverie. After the appearance of Dr. Rush and their guests, Colonel Young stepped forward and said, "Senator, it is my honor to welcome you to Icarus Base."

"Colonel," greeted the Senator who shook his hand. He motioned to the young woman next to him. "This is my executive assistant, Chloe."

Chloe held her hand out to Young. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Sir."

"The pleasure's mine," replied the colonel.

"She's also my daughter," said the Senator.

Lieutenant Scott finally arrived to meet the group. Everett looked over his shoulder, rolled his eyes, and winked at Melissa before looking at the young man who was with the other newcomers. He said, "You must be….."

"….the contest winner. Yeah!" He looked over at the gun emplacements on the ridge. "Those are big guns."

Scott replied, "Rail gun. Five hundred rounds per minute."

"This is Lieutenant Scott," interrupted Young. "He's been assigned to you, Mr. Wallace."

Dr. Rush, who was fairly jumping with impatience, said "Shall we go inside?"

A few minutes later they were all standing in the base's Gateroom, and the newcomers were getting their first glance of a real Stargate. Eli Wallace was especially fascinated. He exclaimed, "Unbelievable!"

Scott replied, "Yeah, it is. It's weird how fast you can start to take something like this for granted."

Eli got a confused look on his face. He asked, "So if the Stargate can instantly transport you to another planet, why did we fly here on a spaceship?

Scott replied, "It's something to do with how this one's tied into the plane of the power. Apparently, it's been modified to only dial out because incoming wormholes are too dangerous. You're the genius—you could probably tell me better."

Wallace stated, "All I did was solve a puzzle in a video game."

"Well, you figured out something Dr. Rush has been trying to figure out for months." Scott stepped closer to Eli and spoke quietly. "Which, by the way, a lot of people" he motioned to the group of scientists "were glad to see."

Nearby, Rush was introducing the Senator to some of the other scientists. He reached Melissa. "Senator, this is Dr. Melissa Mitchell."

She said, "It's a pleasure, Senator," reaching out to shake his hand.

"The pleasure's mine, ma'am." He looked at her carefully for a minute. "If you're who I think you are, I knew your father."

This was the part she hated about meeting political people who had known her adopted dad because she didn't like broadcasting it to the people she worked with, but she knew the Senator wouldn't let it go. "Yes, I am probably who you think I am, Senator. My maiden name was Hammond, and George Hammond was my adopted dad."

"I thought so. I remember seeing your picture in his office when he was in Homeworld Security. I'm sorry for your loss."

Her dad had just died in the past year so the loss was fresh. She said, "Thank you, Senator." As Dr. Rush moved on with the Senator, he threw her a look of surprise. 'Well, well,' she thought to herself. 'Something has actually surprised the good doctor. I wonder why he didn't get a look at my complete file.' Then she realized why. General O'Neill knew she was sensitive about some people thinking she might not have earned her position with the SGC, and once she had changed her name to Mitchell, had that part of her file scrubbed. 'I'll have to thank him when we get back.'

The next person Rush led the Senator to was Colonel Telford. He said, "And, of course, you know Colonel Telford."

"Of course, I do." He shook the colonel's hand. "You ready for this, Colonel?"

"You just give the word, sir," replied Telford.

"Oh, I gave it quite a while ago, Colonel. I'm just here to see how my one point six billion dollars is being spent."

Rush interrupted with a false chuckle. "Very good. Thank you everyone."

Colonel Telford dismissed the military contingent who filed out of the room along with several of the scientists. Melissa and Peter decided to stay at the back of the room because they were interested in seeing if Eli's math had actually solved the problem. So, it was just them along with Telford, Young, Rush, the Senator, Chloe, Lt. Scott, and Eli.

Rush stated, "Now, as you know, up until now, we have been unable to channel the precise amount of power necessary to unlock the Stargate's ninth and final chevron. However, thanks to some ingenuity from young Mr. Wallace here, that problem has finally been solved."

"We've heard that before," said Colonel Young. Melissa could hear the note of exasperation in this voice.

"This time we're sure," said Rush.

Eli piped up in surprise. "That's what I figured out?"

"I embedded the mathematical problem we had to solve into the game," replied Rush. "I then engineered your solution into a practical, workable application."

"What an ego," whispered Peter to Melissa who almost said something out loud. She then noticed Everett looking at her and slightly shaking his head. "It's not worth it, Peter," she whispered back to him.

The Senator asked if they could continue with the demonstration, and Rush told the gate technician, Sergeant Riley, to dial the address. Eli and Chloe were surprised it was happening so fast. Dr. Rush and Colonel Young both explained that it was a test, and if a connection was made, an automatic drone would be sent. If the drone transmitted a viable atmosphere, a team would be sent to investigate at a later time. Everyone in the gate room watched as the chevrons lit up. As the ninth chevron encoded, the base began to shake and lightning sparked down from the capacitors suspended over the top of the gate. Riley said, "The ninth chevron will not lock."

As alarms began to sound from the computers, both Telford and Rush hurried over to investigate. Rush said, "We matched the power requirements perfectly. It has to work."

Riley said, "Power levels in the gate capacitors are going into the red."

Young ordered, "Shut it down."

"No, wait, wait, wait!" exclaimed Rush.

From over at his console, Riley said, "We're reading fluctuations in the output from the…"

The colonel walked over to Riley, put his hand on his shoulder, and said, "Shut it down now!" Riley activated his controls, and the gate groaned and slowed down before coming to a halt. The capacitors continued to spark for a moment, and then they shut down as well, and the base stopped shaking. Peter leaned over to Melissa and whispered, "I told you the man had an ego." She smiled briefly, and they turned to watch the action at the console. Rush straightened up, his face a picture of disappointment. He turned to Young, forced a smile, and said, "It should have worked."

Young replied, "Well, it didn't, and drawing power from the planet's core…"

"…..is dangerous. Yes, I'm aware of that," stated Rush.

"Regardless of what's been spent or what's at stake, my first priority is to ensure the safety of the people on this base," insisted Young.

"Of course," Rush replied. He turned to Eli. "Eli, we'd best run through your equations again."

Eli looked startled at the rest of the group gazed at him. "You are not seriously putting this on me."

"Come on, Eli" said Rush who walked towards the control room. Before Eli left, he emphasized to the onlookers who were still here, "This is not my fault."

Melissa and Peter turned to leave the Gateroom. Peter asked her, "Are you going to the lab?"

She replied, "I'll be there in a few minutes." Melissa walked down the corridor, made a turn, and went into the infirmary. She had started to feel better, but was still feeling a little off from her usual self. Suspecting what might be the problem, she decided that a visit to Dr. Sims was in order. She went over to his desk where he was working on paperwork and said, "Hi Dr. Sims."

The doctor looked up with a smile and said, "Hello Dr. Mitchell." He was a man in his mid-50's whose kind, gentle manner seemed at odds with his burly appearance. "What can I do for you, Melissa?"

She replied, "I've not felt well for the last few days, and I have a suspicion as to why, but first, I need to ask you a question. Is it true that the effectiveness of the birth control shots we get is reduced if you mix alcohol and sex in the first 2 weeks after the shot is given?

He said, "That would be a big yes. From 98% to 10%.

"Well, then," she motioned to the stack of pregnancy tests on the shelf, "I need you to give me one of those, and hopefully, not to mention it in my records." She gave him a pleading look.

He gazed at her thoughtfully. "You're shipping out next week, right?

She replied, "Yes, I am."

"Ok, I think we can avoid the mention in the records then." Melissa let out a breath she had been holding while Dr. Sims reached up to the shelf and grabbed a plastic cup and a pregnancy test. Handing the cup to Melissa, he said, "Go and pee in this and come back for the test." She went into the bathroom and came back in short order with the sample. He placed the stick in the sample, and while they waited, he asked her, "What's the time frame for this?"

"Well, if I am, it would be the night before we shipped here."

"Ahh, almost 16 weeks." He looked around the infirmary and saw that it was practically deserted. "You'll be viable for an ultrasound then. Do you want one?"

"That would be great." They looked back at the testing stick, and sure enough, there was a plus in the window. He said, "Come on back to the exam room while there's no one here."

Melissa and the doctor went back to the exam room. She got into a gown and sat up on the table while the doctor wheeled the ultrasound over from the corner. He put some gel on the paddle and warned her, "This will be cold." as he lifted the gown and put the paddle on her stomach. He moved it around a bit, and a picture appeared on the screen. Missy watched in fascination. She said, "Oh, wow."

The doctor smiled. He didn't get to see this a whole lot in the military. He said, "Look here, your daughter is cooperating. You're going to have a little girl."

Missy looked at the fetus, and sure enough, she could see what the doctor had seen. Her eyes filled with happy tears. She said, "I wish he….."

Dr. Sims knew what she meant and said, "How would you like a picture to show him?"

She nodded eagerly, and he pushed the button that would produce it. After he handed it to her, he said, "I know Colonel Young will be ecstatic."

Melissa almost jumped off the table. "What makes you think…?"

"Oh, don't worry, Melissa. You've both been very careful, and these young pups don't know how to recognize the signs. Me, on the other hand, I've been married for almost 30 years, and I know the signs. When you and the colonel are in the same room together, your eyes twinkle, and you steal glances at each other when no one else is looking. That's love in my book. And no, I don't need to know any details. It's always been my belief that people who love each other should be together."

Overwhelmed with gratitude for the doctor's support, she said, "Thanks Doc." She reached under the gown and pulled out her tags that had the ring Ev had given her. "He asked me to marry him the other night."

The doctor looked at the ring closely. "That is lovely. Now, I am expecting an invitation and a birth announcement."

"And you will get both," smiled Missy. She started getting dressed.

He asked, "When are you going to tell him?"

"Tonight, after our guests leave," she replied. She finished dressing and put the ultrasound picture in her uniform pocket. Then she went and gave the doctor a hug. "I can't thank you enough, Doc. I'll let you know how it goes." She walked out of the examination room and then the infirmary on cloud 9. Outside the infirmary door, she ran into Jennifer. "Hey Missy, what's going on? You look really excited!"

Melissa glanced around to see if anyone was walking by. The corridor at the moment was deserted, but she didn't want to take any chances. "Let's go find somewhere private to talk."

Five minutes later, they were in Jen's quarters. "Ok, spill it, Missy."

Happiness and joy exploded over Melissa's face. "I'm pregnant, Jen! Ev and I are going to have a little girl."

Jennifer squealed, "That's wonderful! But how…didn't you have to take your BC shot before shipping out?"

"Yes, I did get my shot four days before we left," said Melissa. "Apparently though, you are not supposed to mix alcohol and sex for two weeks after getting the shot—makes the effectiveness go almost to zero.

"And your night with the colonel before we left….."

"Involved alcohol. I don't know if I ever would have admitted my feelings though if it hadn't. Anyway, it's done now, and I'm really happy, Jen. You're happy for me too, right?"

"Are you kidding? Yes, I am. When are you going to tell him?

"I'll tell him after our guests leave tonight. I need to go on to the lab. Talk to you later."

"You can count on it, Missy." They left Jen's quarters and went in different directions – Missy towards the lab and Jen towards the weapons range. For the rest of the day, Melissa worked with the other scientists on the math involved with the proof to see if a workaround could be found only taking a brief lunch break at noon. Around five, she noticed Eli starting to get exasperated with Dr. Rush. As it escalated, she noticed Everett walk into the lab. He walked up to Rush and Eli and said, "Gentlemen, how's it coming?"

Before anyone could answer, Rush said, "We're starting from the beginning," and began wiping the equation from the white board.

"Wait, save, save!" exclaimed Eli.

Young gave Rush an exasperated look. He turned to Eli and said, "Mr. Wallace, I would like you to join me for dinner in the Officer's Mess."

Eli replied, "Thank you, I'm starving."

"We're quite close to a solution, actually, I'd like Eli to keep working," said Rush.

Young replied, "Well, we've been here for four months. It can wait a few more hours."

"Thank you," said Eli.

Young patted him on the back and said, "You're welcome." When they passed Melissa and Peter who were the only other two still in the room, Young said, "Dr. Mitchell and Captain O'Reilly, I would like you to join us as well."

Melissa grinned and winked at Everett who winked back. "Thank you, Sir. I was getting hungry myself." They headed for the Mess where they joined the Senator and his daughter, Colonel Telford, and IOA Representative Camille Wray for a lovely dinner. The conversation was quite lively and included some speculation about the ninth chevron address and a toast by the Senator about why he didn't initially didn't want to improve the expenditure, but how he was encouraged by his daughter to do so. Apparently, embellishing her words was something he did quite often because Chloe drained a glass of wine during his speech. She finally decided enough was enough and cut her father short saying, "And so to all the brave men and women who have volunteered….." The sounds of an explosion and the base shaking interrupted her. "Ok, what was that?"

At that moment, Colonel Young's radio squawked and he answered it. "This is Young." He listened to what the other person was saying as they heard the sounds of more explosions and felt more shaking. Then he looked back at the table and said, "The base is under attack. All non-combative personnel, report to your designated areas; everyone else to your battle stations. This is not a drill." Everyone started to hurry out. As Missy and Peter left, he told them, "You two had top scores last week. Captain, you're on Gun 2 with Sergeant Wilson. Doctor, you're on Gun 1 with Lieutenant McDonald." He looked at both of them, and especially Melissa intently and said, "Be careful." They nodded and hurried out to gear up.

Young turned back to the rest of the group and said, "Senator, we need you and your daughter to go with Lieutenant Scott. Eli, you as well."

"Uh, Ok," said Eli.

Young left the group in Lieutenant Scott's capable hands and went to gear up himself. After he was done, he went to the Detention Wing with two rifles and a bag. He swiped his ID through the card reader, and a cell door opened to reveal a Marine sergeant. Young said to him, "Sergeant, we're under attack; don't know who, don't know why." He tossed him the bag and one of the rifles. "Consider the charges dropped. Go take your anger out on them.

The sergeant, whose name was Greer, said, "Yes, sir." The two of them headed out of the cell and towards the surface. A few minutes later, Everett was on the weapons platform where Gun 1 was located observing the battle reflected against the planet's night sky. He radioed up to the Hammond. "What've you got, Colonel? Lucian Alliance?"

Carter replied, "That would be my guess. They haven't introduced themselves. They started shooting the minute they came out of hyperspace. Our shields are holding, but we're not the target."

Young asked, "What's heading our way?"

"A full squadron of gliders and a troop transport," replied Carter. "We've cut them down some, but the rest will be on your doorstep in less than three minutes."

"Telford, did you copy that?" Young asked.

Colonel Telford, who was taxiing an F-302 out onto the runway, radioed back, "Roger that. If we can get to the transport before they land their troops, we stand a chance."

As the troop transport and its glider escorts flew towards the base, the troops on the platforms which included Melissa, Peter, and Jennifer began to fire at them as they came into range. The gliders returned fire. Melissa thought to herself, 'Ok, little one, guess it's time to find a safer occupation.' The troops continued to fire as the F-302 pilots got into the air. Meanwhile, in the Gateroom, Sergeant Riley called to Dr. Rush, "Doctor Rush, I'm reading a dangerous energy spike in the core."

Rush and Eli got into a discussion of what's needed to dial the Ninth Chevron address as Rush thinks this will be their last chance. Eli suggested that maybe it didn't have anything to do with the math, but the gate address itself—that the gate was meant to be dialed from another planet.

Up at the weapons platform, Everett received another communication from Telford. "Icarus Base, Telford. We can't hold them back." As if to prove his point, a glider flew dangerously close to the platform. He and the other crew took cover as debris fell. Young yelled, "Let's go!"

McDonald evacuated the platform while Missy lied on the ground still winded from jumping off the gun. Everett looked over the parapet and saw a glider, struck by weapons fire from a 302 and burning savagely, go into a death roll and start a kamikaze run towards the platform. As he ran and helped Melissa to her feet, he yelled into his radio, "Sergeant Riley! Dial the Stargate to Earth! He put an arm around Melissa's waist saying, "Don't scare me like that, Babe!" as they ran into the mountain ahead of the glider exploding into the platform. She gave him a rueful grin and said, "I don't plan to anymore." They headed down towards the Gateroom.

Meanwhile, Riley has followed Young's orders and begun dialing Earth. Eli was still trying to get Rush to follow his line of logic. He told Rush, "Maybe you're supposed to use Earth's point of origin when you dial."

Rush said, "But the only viable power source was here, light years away."

"What if that doesn't matter?" replied Eli. "What –what if it's the only combination that'll work, like a code?"

"A code?" asked Rush.

"Yeah!" exclaimed Eli who realized that Rush was finally getting what he said. Rush ran over and told Riley to stop the dialing sequence. When Riley said he had his orders, Rush shoved him away from the dialing console and stopped it himself saying they couldn't risk dialing Earth.

Elsewhere, Everett and Melissa were heading down the north east corridor with a few of the Marines when she said, "Wait, we should check and see if Doc. Sims needs any help." He nodded his head in acknowledgement and told the Marines to keep going to the Gateroom. Then they turned and went towards the infirmary. When they got to the entrance, they saw one of the medics working on a prone body. Missy motioned for Ev to approach her while she stood back. He walked up and identified himself so the medic didn't have to turn around. "It's Colonel Young, Lieutenant. Is that Doctor Sims?"

When the lieutenant nodded her head up and down in confirmation, Missy felt a wave of grief overcome her and patted her uniform pocket to make sure the ultrasound picture was still there. She heard the medic say to the doctor, "Stay with me, OK." And then to Young, "He was helping people get back from the surface." She continued doing CPR on the doctor. "Sims, can you hear me?'" she asked.

Everett looked back at Missy, shook his head, and then turned around to the medic and said, "TJ" She ignored him and continued doing CPR. He said it again, "TJ" She finally turned towards him her eyes dead and angry. "Come on. We've gotta go."

Fighting back her tears, the medic stood and walked away. Everett saw where Melissa was also fighting back tears. He walked up to her, grabbed her hand, and used his other hand to wipe away a tear. "We're gonna be ok, Babe."

She nodded at him knowing that there would be a time for grief later, and they ran down the corridor towards the Gateroom. Meanwhile, Rush had begun the dialing sequence for what he hopes is the correct Ninth Chevron address. Several of the symbols were already illuminated on the DHD, and now another chevron locked on the gate. The room began to shake as Rush typed, and it started to spin again. The computer showed that Earth's Point of Origin symbol had just been encoded. Everyone stared anxiously at the gate as it continued to spin, but finally the chevron clunked and, a split second later, a massive energy vortex kawooshed out. Everybody who was near the gate ducked out of its way. Eli said, "That is impressive."

Rush went to look at the event horizon seeing something that didn't look quite right while Sergeant Riley called out, "Power's fluctuating at critical levels."

Meanwhile, on the Hammond, Major Marks has noticed the same thing and reported to Carter, "Colonel! I'm detecting a massive build-up of energy from the planet."

Carter came over to look at his screen, and then said to Marks, "Recall our fighters. Radio Colonel Telford: he's got two minutes to get his people aboard before we jump to hyperspace."

Back in the Gateroom, Melissa and Everett ran in and noticed all the people standing around. He asked, "What's everybody doing? I ordered an evacuation."

When no one else replied, Eli walked over to him and said, "He didn't dial Earth. It's the nine chevron address."

"What?" exclaimed Young who walks toward Dr. Rush as he turns away from the event horizon. Dr. Rush said to him, "The attack started a chain reaction in the planet's core. There's no way of stopping that, and any blast could easily translate through an open wormhole. It's too dangerous to dial Earth."

"You could have dialed somewhere else, anywhere else," said Young glancing back over at Melissa.

Rush stated, "This could be our only chance."

Young shook his head. "Shut it down!"

"You can't; it's too late," said Rush.

"Riley," said Young.

"System's not responding, Sir," the sergeant replied.

"I need to get these people out of here."

Rush interrupted and gestured to the gate, "We have a way out."

Young said, "We don't know what's on the other side. Dammit Rush!"

Eli got between the two men. "Can't be worse than here, can it?"

At that moment, Young's radio squawked. "This is Scott. I've got about a dozen or so people cut off from the Gateroom. South-east corridor."

Young kept his gaze on Rush for a moment longer, turned and looked at the stargate, and then said, "Nobody move. Await further instructions." Realizing that the south-east corridor is where Jen and Peter would have come as they made their way down from the surface, he motions to Missy and to Greer, and the three of them leave the room. As they walk, Missy said, "Rush is an idiot."

"Couldn't agree more," acknowledged Greer who had gained newfound respect for the doctor who also knew how to handle weapons well. They hurried down to where the cave-in was. When they got there, they noticed Lieutenant Scott trying to move debris. "Scott," said Young. "Stand clear."

The young lieutenant stood up and away from the debris pile as Greer took out a block of C4 from his jacket and started to fix a detonator to it.

Scott said, "You could take down the rest of the roof with that."

"We don't have time to argue," replied Young. "I need you to lead the evacuees through the gate." He gazed over at Chloe. "And you need to go with him."

She said, "No! I'm staying here until I know my father's ok. Melissa nodded at Everett and indicated that she would stay with her.

Young then said to Scott, "Make sure everyone carries as much of the expedition supplies as they can."

"Why?" he asked.

"Cause you're not going to Earth. Rush dialed the ninth chevron. Go." When Scott hesitated, Young said again, with more emphasis, "Go!"

Scott hurried off, and Greer and Young worked on positioning the C4 while Chloe and Melissa watched. Young asked Greer, "You good?"

"Yeah, let's go," replied Greer. Greer took Chloe's arm and they and Missy hustled around a couple of corners. Young called out to the blocked corridor. "If you can hear me, stand back." He then ran to join the others, and Greer handed him the detonator switch. Young told the group with him to get down and placed a protective arm around Melissa. He yelled, "Fire in the hole!" and then pressed the switch. The C4 exploded, rocking the corridor and showering the four of them with debris and cement dust. As soon as the explosion subsided, Greer jumped up and ran back to the blocked corridor with Chloe running after him. Young and Melissa followed after the two of them. Chloe calls out, "Dad?" as she watches Greer help someone through the gap. She does the same with each person Greer and Young help through. The Senator is the last one to come through. He tells his daughter that he is all right, and then quietly tells Greer, "There were two military personnel behind us that were caught in the cave-in." He pointed to the young man ahead of him. "We checked, and they were both killed, but we managed to get tags." He handed the tags to Greer who took a quick look and put them in his pocket. The Senator then headed down the corridor with his daughter. Young tells Missy and Greer, "Greer, Melissa, go! I'm right behind you." They followed the rest of the group although Missy was thinking to herself, 'I most certainly am not going through the gate without him.'

Colonel Young activated his radio hoping to tell the Hammond where the evacuees were going. "Hammond, this is Young, Come in Hammond, this is Young. Come in." As he gazed upward hopefully, there was no answer. 'Guess it's not my lucky day,' he thought to himself and went running down the corridor.

Meanwhile, Greer and Melissa came up behind the rest of the group that had been rescued from the corridor. A Marine that was still there was urging people through the gate. "Let's go, let's go, let's go, come on, people. Let's do it, let's do it!" Melissa grabbed a duffel bag that she had left in there earlier and slung it over her shoulder. Greer told the other Marines to head out, and then the two of them waited for Young. Two more Marines came in from a side door, one being injured. Greer got on the other side to help. He told Melissa. "You'd better get through that gate, or he will kill me."

Melissa said, "Not until I see him come in this room." Young ran in at that moment, saw Melissa, and yelled, "Get through the gate, Melissa! I'm right behind you." She stepped through the gate. He then turned and cleared a couple of boxes from the top of a large crate. Next, he picked up a backpack and quickly emptied its contents onto the floor, then reached into the crate and took a case out of it. He sees Greer with the other two on the walkway. Greer yells, "Sir!"

Young said, "Go! Then the three marines stepped through the gate as well. On the other side, Melissa had stepped away from the gate and was praying as hard as she could. "Come on Ev, come on Ev, come on Ev."

Back on Icarus, Young stuffed the case into the bag and zipped it closed. He hauled it up and over his shoulder and then raced for the walkway. As he ran for the gate, the base began to explode around him. The shockwave reached him while he was still running, and it lifted him off of his feet and pushed him at high velocity into the event horizon. After he went through, the planet exploded, taking all of the enemy ships with it.

Noise and commotion were rampant in the room with the evacuees as Melissa made her way to where Scott and Greer were checking on the colonel. She had never been so scared in her entire life. Rubbing her belly, she thought to herself, 'Your daddy will be ok. He has to be. He doesn't even know about you yet.' She reached them at the same time the young blonde medic she had seen in the infirmary did. Knowing better than to get in the way, she stood to one side as the medic worked. Melissa heard Scott ask Eli where Rush was and then heard him tell Greer to keep everyone in one place while they looked for him. Eli and Scott rushed out, and Greer noticed Melissa standing to the side. He motioned for her to sit, and they both watched the medic, whose name was Lieutenant Johansen, work. He asks her, "It's Mitchell, right? You're the colonel's fourth from his science team?

"Yes, I am," replied Melissa.

"You might want these then, ma'am." He reached into his pocket and pulled out two sets of dog tags. "The Senator gave them to me in the corridor." He handed them to Missy who looked and saw what she had feared. The tags had Peter and Jennifer's names on them. She almost started crying then, but managed to stuff it back inside. Greer asked her, "You're not military, right?"

"No, I'm not."

"Well, the colonel has taught you well. How long were you all a team?"

"Seven years," she replied. Melissa looked at the young man who had been in some trouble just yesterday and noticed that he had grown up a bit in the last few hours. "Thank you, sergeant."

"You're welcome." He patted her on the shoulder. They watched as Lieutenant Johansen worked on the colonel, bandaging his head and checking his responsiveness. When an uncertain look came over her face, Melissa asked, "Can I do anything to help, lieutenant?"

"Yes," the medic replied. "You can help support his head while I'm checking his reflexes." She gazed at Missy as she moved over and lifted Everett's head into her lap for a moment thinking of where she had seen the older woman before. "I saw you in the corridor with the colonel, but I don't think we've met."

Greer interrupted, "TJ, this is Dr. Mitchell. She's the fourth from the colonel's science team."

"Oh, ok. Nice to meet you, ma'am. I participated in a few of the bowling tournaments Captain O'Reilly set up."

Greer saw a look of sadness come over Melissa's face and said, "TJ, Captain O'Reilly and Sergeant Wilson both died in the attack on the base."

"Oh, ma'am, I'm so sorry," said TJ.

"Thank you. Please, call me Melissa." she replied.

"Call me TJ," the lieutenant responded and looked back at the colonel uncertainly.

Melissa asked, "TJ, what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know," she replied. At that moment, the colonel started shaking uncontrollably and exhibiting signs of a seizure. Melissa steadied his head and upper body the best she could while making sure he didn't swallow his tongue. She looked at TJ helplessly who said, "There's nothing I can do." The seizure continued for another two minutes, and then stopped without warning. Shortly after that, an air vent in the room shut off. TJ and Melissa shared a look of concern, and then TJ turned on her radio to report to Scott. "Lieutenant Scott, come in?"

"Go ahead," said Scott.

Johansen replied, "We've got a problem. One of the air vents just shut down in here."

"Copy that," said Scott who was in another part of the ship with Dr. Rush and Eli.

Eli stated, "Yeah, the air's getting pretty thin in here too."

Scott said, "What does that mean?

Rush turned from the window looking to the outside of the ship and said to the other two, "It means that the life support system is failing, and we should probably do something about that."

Meanwhile, back in the Gateroom, there continued to be more and more commotion as no one had heard anything since Lieutenant Scott had left. Melissa knew the group wouldn't have much of a chance if they couldn't figure out the air vent problem.

At that moment, Scott, Eli, and Dr. Rush returned and gave the group their first update. Apparently, the ninth chevron gate led to an Ancient spaceship which was thousands of years old and millions of light years away from Earth. Upset by this news, several people in the group including Senator Armstrong and IOA Representative Camille Wray demanded that the gate be dialed to try and return to Earth. When Rush said that wasn't possible at the moment, the senator got very upset, clutched his heart, and collapsed. TJ went to help him while Scott explained to the others that it was important for everyone to work together and that the entire group didn't need to stay in the Gateroom. With that, the crowd started to disperse, and TJ began sorting out accommodations for the injured. Melissa offered to help her move patients which she gratefully accepted. Once they had moved Colonel Young into sleeping quarters, she said to TJ, "I can stay with him while you check on the others."

"That would be great," TJ replied.

Missy asked, "Could someone update me when there's any news so I can update the colonel if" and then says with greater confidence, "no, I mean when he wakes up?"

TJ noticed the catch in Melissa's voice and gave her an encouraging smile. "Yeah, sure, I'll come back and do that, or I'll send Scott."

"Thanks TJ."

"You're welcome." TJ then left to check on her other patients. At that moment, Melissa was alone with Everett for the first time since the day, which had been wonderful to start with and terrible to end with, had begun. She pulled a chair next to the bed and sat down taking Ev's hand in hers. Not bothering to hold the tears back anymore, she started talking to him knowing that he probably could hear her on some level even though he was unconscious. "Oh, Ev, I am scared—more scared than I was when we were in B'aal's prison or in the Ori prison. We are so far from home, and I don't think Rush is real confident of our chances. If it was just you and me, it would be one thing, but I just found out…" She hesitates a moment and then starts talking again. "Ev, we're gonna have a baby; a little girl. Sims just ran the test this morning. He said he could tell that we were together by how we looked at each other. You've got to be ok." She placed his hand on her stomach. "For me and for our baby."

A voice sounded from behind her. "That sounds like something Doc Sims would say." Melissa turned around quickly and saw TJ who noticed the worried expression on her face. "Listen, you don't need to worry about anything from me."

Melissa relaxed and said, "Thanks TJ."

"I do need to confirm one thing though. You are pregnant?"

"Yes, I am." Melissa reached into her uniform pocket, pulled out the ultrasound photo, and showed it to her. TJ looked at it for a moment and then handed it back to her. She asked, "How far along?"

Missy replied, "Sixteen weeks. I was going to tell him tonight."

"Do you mind if I do a quick exam?"

"Not at all." She loosened her pants so TJ could feel along her stomach. "Wow, she is moving a lot."

"Yes," said Missy, "Ever since we gated here, I've noticed that."

TJ said, "She seems to be fine." and indicated that it was ok for Melissa to refasten her pants. "I was just coming to tell you that Scott radioed me. He said Rush used the communication stones to contact Earth and that General O'Neill put him in charge. He also said they're continuing to search the ship and for me to recruit some able-bodied people to help. Once he knows more, he'll come in here and update you himself."

"Ok, thanks for letting me know, TJ." Once more, the medic left the room. The events of the day started catching up with Melissa, and she started dozing off as she sat next to the bed.

Meanwhile, Everett was doing his best to come back to the land of the living. He felt like he was in a field of cotton and that he had to climb over and over it to open his eyes, but he was finally able too. The first thing he noticed was that he was lying in a bed and that Melissa was sitting next to him in a chair. She was holding his hand and dozing herself. He tried to get her attention. "Melissa," he said softly. She didn't respond, and he knew he hadn't spoken loudly enough. He decided to squeeze her hand which proved to do the trick as she opened her eyes and stared down at his. "Hey Babe," he said.

"Hey yourself," she said with a smile.

He asked, "What's going on?"

"We almost lost you," replied Missy. "You were thrown clear across the room." Everett tried to sit up, groaning in the process, but Melissa put her hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back down again. "Ev, TJ says you shouldn't get up yet."

"Where are we?" asked Ev.

She told him. "We're on a ship. It's Ancient. Rush says it's thousands of years old, and we're pretty far off into the universe."

"What's he doing to get us home?"

"He's working on it, but we have bigger problems. The life support system isn't working properly. If we can't get it fixed, there's not much time. You should also know he used the communication stones to contact Earth, and he said General O'Neill put him in charge."

Everett shook his head forcefully and said, "I don't think so. I don't think…." and then gasped with pain.

"Sweetheart, you shouldn't be trying to get up just yet, OK?"

"I don't think I have a choice," he replied. "Missy, I can't feel my legs." At that moment, TJ came into the room. "Melissa, I thought I'd check in…Oh, Colonel Young, you're awake, good."

Melissa said, "TJ, he can't feel his legs."

"That's not good," she replied. "Let's take a look." She examined his legs and then put a blanket over them. "I think this might be neurapraxia, colonel. It's a temporary paralysis that can follow a concussive injury."

"But you don't know?" asked Everett.

She said, you'd need an MRI and a qualified doctor who knows how to read it to know for sure if there's spinal damage. We don't have either. Hopefully, it's just the nerves in shock. Best I can do is insist you remain still."

"And he will," stated Melissa giving Everett a 'don't mess with me look' "won't you?"

He rolled his eyes at her as this was a common occurrence between them and said with an indulgent smile, "Yes, I will, Missy."

"Thank you." A silence came over the three of them which was broken by the colonel saying to TJ, "Your tour was over two weeks ago."

TJ shrugged her shoulders in acknowledgement of his statement. "You should be in some classroom in San Diego," he told her.

She replied, "Seattle, that's where my scholarship was."

Young said, "I'm sorry."

"That part's not your fault," she said.

"Tell Rush I want to see him."

"Yes, sir," she acknowledged and headed out of the room. Ev then took his first good look at Missy and saw the exhaustion and fear written on every part of her face. He used his upper body to scoot himself over a bit. She noticed and asked, "What are you doing?"

"I think there's enough room for you to lie down here with me. Baby, I know you well enough to know that you haven't really rested since we got here. I can't do a whole lot right now, but I can do this. Please sweetheart." He patted the space next to him.

"Ok Ev," she said lying down on the bed with him. "Promise you'll tell me if I hurt you though."

"You're not going to hurt me," he reassured her. It took a minute for them to find the most comfortable position, and when they did, he put his arms around her. Missy's breathing went deep and even as she relaxed. She told him drowsily, "I feel safe now. I've always felt safe with you."

Hearing that from the woman who was more precious to him than anyone else in the world meant everything to him. He kissed her forehead and said, "It's ok, Missy. You can close your eyes. I've got you." After another minute or two, he could tell she was asleep and decided to rest himself while they were waiting for news. About 30 minutes later, he heard the door open and thought about moving, but then said to himself, 'No, people are going to have to get used to this.' TJ came over to the bed quietly when she saw Melissa sleeping. "I'm actually really glad to see that, Sir, Melissa resting, I mean."

"You're not surprised to see us…," asked Young motioning to himself and Melissa in the bed.

"Nope, we got to talk a bit while you were unconscious," replied TJ with a grin like she knew a secret he didn't. "Sounds like you guys have something special. I'm happy for you, Sir."

"Thanks, she's a wonderful lady," he replied. "Any news yet?

She said, "Yes, there is, but first I want to see if you can move your legs or feet yet."

Being careful not to disturb Melissa, he tried one foot first and then the other and was very happy that they both moved. TJ told him, "That's very good, Sir. It's a very good sign."

"Yeah, I don't have time for this, do I?" he asked. At that moment, Melissa stirred. She mumbled, "Ev, my head hurts," and then became fully alert. "Oh, hi, TJ."

"Hey Melissa." She proceeded to answer the colonel's question. "We have two problems. We're venting atmosphere from a damaged shuttle, and even if we could seal it off, the life support system is way past its expiration date. We'll build up carbon dioxide to lethal levels within a day."

Everett said to Melissa, "That explains your headache, sweetheart. I have one too. TJ, how was the ship damaged?"

"We don't know," she replied. "It certainly looks like it's been through a battle – at least the parts we can access. They tried jamming something into the shuttle doorway to keep it open long enough to let the person inside get out, but it just opens again. Rush thinks it's some kind of safety mechanism. He can't override it. As it stands, Rush says if we don't get it closed, we have just over an hour."

"Who's working on it?"

"Franklin. Scott is going to give him 15 more minutes, and then he's going to come here himself to update you. Rush also asked me make a list of everyone onboard—special skills, talents, etc." TJ fell silent and let the other two consider the ramifications of her statement. "Listen, Rush wanted me to come back with the list."

"Ok, TJ, keep us appraised." She nodded and hurried out of the room. Melissa said, "I guess I won't be sleeping anymore for the moment," and pulled herself up to a sitting position. She looked at Everett and asked, "How are you feeling?"

He gave her a wry grin. "I can move my feet and my legs some."

"Well, that's good," she responded. The two of them fell silent as they knew there was not a whole lot more to say. Fifteen minutes later, both TJ and Scott came back. After TJ quickly introduced Melissa to Scott, he began his report. "Franklin is still working at the airlock controls locally, but it doesn't look good Sir."

TJ added, "Camille's explaining the situation to everyone onboard."

"I'll do it," said Young.

Scott said, "Sir?" while Melissa went completely white.

"This isn't the kind of thing I can ask anyone else to volunteer for," responded Young.

"Sir," said Scott, "if we're gonna make it past this, we're gonna need you."

Melissa gave Everett a direct gaze. "Yes, we are going to need you."

"I don't know about that. You're doing a pretty good job without me, Lieutenant."

"Enough, enough," said TJ. "There is another reason you shouldn't be the one to do it." Scott and Young both looked at her. Young asked, "What are you talking about?" She looked pointedly at Melissa as if she knew Melissa hadn't discussed her news yet.

Melissa nodded and asked Scott and TJ to leave for a minute. She then turned to Ev and said, "Sweetheart, you know that I haven't felt well for the past few days, right?

"That's right," he said.

"Well, this morning, I decided to go see Doc. Sims about it."

Ev gave her a worried look. "Is everything ok, Missy?"

"More than ok, sweetheart," she replied. "Ev, we're gonna have a baby, a little girl." She pulled the ultrasound picture out of her pocket and showed it to him. He studied the picture for a long moment; long enough to worry her a bit. "Ev, say something, please. You're not upset, are you?"

Ev looked back up at her, and she could see an expression of joy and love come over his face. "Oh Babe, no I am not upset; not in the least bit! You have made me a very happy man!" He took her in his arms and kissed her. With that, Scott and Johansen came running back in the room. Scott asked, "Is everything ok, Sir?"

"Everything's fine, Scott," he said. "Just found out I'm going to be a dad, that's all." Everett gave Missy's shoulders a squeeze. The lieutenant glanced at all of them in confusion until TJ punched him and said, "This is where you tell them congratulations, Matt."

"Yeah, sorry, congrats Sir," he replied. Then the four of them stared at each other until Melissa voiced the obvious. "Well, it won't happen unless we make it through the next hour."

At that moment, Chloe ran into the room and said, "My father's not in his room.

Scott said, "We'll find him," and turns to Young, "You are staying here now, right?"

"Yes," he replied. "Go and find the senator. I'll be here." Scott and Chloe ran out of the room. The three that were left looked at each other, and then TJ said to Colonel Young, "Well, at least you know the paralysis is temporary now. You are going to recover."

He said, "I know, and it's a good thing too."

"Why's that?" she asked.

"Because there's going to be someone who needs to learn how to play football," he replied. Everett patted Missy's stomach tenderly and then clasped her hand. She smiled up at him affectionately as they settled in to wait for Scott's report.

Meanwhile, Scott and Chloe went running down the hall towards the shuttle bay. Scott said, "He can't have gotten far."

"I told him what was going on," she replied.

"Let me see if Greer's seen him." Scott toggled his radio and said into it, "Greer, this is Scott. Come in? Greer? Greer, do you read? Senator Armstrong is missing. He may be headed your way."

At the entrance to the shuttle bay, Greer slowly reached for his radio, activated it and said, "He's here." His other hand was raised in surrender as the Senator had a pistol aimed at him and Franklin who also had his hands raised. Greer said again into his radio, "He's got a gun." He then released his radio and said to the Senator, "I don't want to shoot you. I don't think you want to shoot me."

The Senator stumbled toward Greer, looking very weak, and said, "Get out of the way."

Franklin piped up, "Just give me a little more time. Let me try and fix this."

"I don't have much," replied the Senator who gestured for Franklin to begin working again on the open wall panel. After working for a few more minutes and trying different switches and buttons, they heard Eli's voice come over the radio, "Guys, I am not seeing any change. Whatever you just tried is not working."

Greer gazed down at Franklin who dropped his tools and slumped in defeat. He said, "You can't fix it."

Franklin shook his head, and after that, the Senator lowered the pistol. He said to both of them, "Tell me what to do." He nodded at Greer who then lowered his hands and nodded back at him.

Shortly afterward, Scott and Chloe arrived at the entrance to the shuttle. Scott noticed that Franklin was sitting on the corridor floor and that Greer was standing outside the first doorway. Chloe saw where her father was sitting in the pilot's seat inside the shuttle and ran toward him, but he pushed a button and closed the internal doors before she could get there. She screamed, "Dad, No!" and then turning back towards the others begged, "Open the door please."

Franklin replied, "I can't."

Chloe beat on the door some more. "Please open the door, Dad!"

While she was still trying to get him to open the door, Scott walked around to look Greer in the face with a question in his eyes. Greer motioned to the Senator and said, "He was dead on his feet."

Scott went over to the door and tried to pull Chloe off of it. She was still screaming and trying to get her father to open the door. At one point, she activated his radio and said, "Eli, Eli, please stop him."

Eli, who was in the Control Room with Dr. Rush, said "There's nothing I can do from here." Meanwhile, back at the shuttle, the last of the air escaped, and as the Senator slumped in his seat dying, Scott finally managed to pull Chloe away from the door. They fell to the ground, and Scott wrapped his arms around her as she wept. They stayed like that for a few minutes, and then Chloe's face became murderous as she realized something. She scrambled to her feet and raced off. Scott said, "Chloe? Chloe!" He got up and ran after her, telling Greer to report to the colonel and radioing TJ to come to the Control Room as he was pretty sure that was where Chloe was headed.

Greer walked over to the crew quarters and found where Colonel Young was resting. He told him what had happened to the Senator some of which the colonel and Melissa had already heard over the radio. Colonel Young asked him, "Why do you think he did it?

"Well, Sir," he replied, "I don't think he had a whole lot of time left himself. He looked just about dead on his feet standing there, and he probably wanted to make sure his daughter made it. We do funny things sometimes to protect the people we care about." Greer looked over at Melissa who was still sitting next to the colonel on the bed and nodded at her in understanding. At that moment, both Everett and Melissa knew they wouldn't have any trouble from him regarding their relationship.

A few minutes later Greer's radio squawked and Scott came on and said to Greer, "I think I've prevented Chloe from killing Rush for the moment. TJ's trying to calm her down."

Young motioned to Greer who handed him his radio, "Scott, it's Colonel Young. How much time does Rush say we have now?"

Scott replied, "Sir, he says we're looking at a day now before the CO2 build up is lethal."

"Ok, keep searching the ship, and stay in touch."

"Yes, Sir."

Young returned Greer's radio and gazed at him and Melissa. "Ok, you two, time for me to make an appearance, but I'm going to need your help. I've been gradually getting feeling back in my legs and feet, and now I want to try and see if I can stand."

Missy said, "All right, Ev, but I'm doing this under protest." She hopped off the bed and held out a hand towards him to help him scoot towards the edge.

"Noted," he said grinning and winking at her as he grabbed her hand and squeezed it. Greer reached over and grabbed his other hand. Once he and Melissa had the colonel at the edge, they each offered a shoulder for him to pull himself up with which he was able to do successfully.

Missy remarked, "What you need is something to use as a crutch." She looked around the room carefully and noticed where she had laid his rifle against the wall. "Ahh, I think that'll work." She grabbed the rifle and handed it to him. "See if you can support yourself with that." Greer and Melissa waited until he had the rifle in place and then let him put his full weight on it. Everett was able to remain standing, and both of them could tell he was really excited.

"Ok, Sir," said Greer, "now, here's the big test. Can you walk with just the rifle?"

Young replied, "Well, I won't know until I try." He put his full weight on the rifle and was able to manage several steps across the room although Greer and Melissa stayed close by to him. "All right, that worked too!" He grinned at both of them, and Melissa grinned and winked back. Young asked, "Greer, where is everyone congregating?"

Greer replied, "Some of the military and civilian personnel are going through the supplies we have in the storeroom."

"Storeroom, it is then. Oh, Greer, can you give us a minute?" The sergeant nodded and left the room. Everett turned to Melissa and said, "Sweetheart, let's do 'office face' for a few minutes, and at that point, I really don't care who knows about us."

Melissa, knowing he was right, said, "That's fine, Ev." She leaned towards him, gave him a kiss, and said, "Love you."

"Love you too, Babe." They walked out of the room, and along with Greer, headed down the corridor towards the storeroom. After a couple of turns, Greer said to them, "Here it is," and they walked inside. As they entered, Camille Wray looked up and exclaimed, "Colonel!"

Young walked over to her and said, "We've lost Senator Armstrong."

"Oh, my god!" she said.

"He's bought us some time," replied Young.

Camille asked, "To do what?"

"Well, we're working on it. First up is trying to dial the gate back home."

Giving him a concerned look, she asked, "Should you even be on your feet?

Greer and Melissa replied simultaneously, "No."

He rolled his eyes at both of them and stated, "Well, I am on my feet and right now, we're trying to get home. Camille, I need your help. You know these people. I need you to spread the word, try to keep things as positive as you can.

Camille said, "I can do that."

"Good," said Young. As Camille walked off, he motioned to Greer and Melissa and said, "Ok, our next stop is the Gate Room." They went out of the storeroom and headed towards the gate. As they walked, Young said, "I might need your secondary talent, Doctor Mitchell. Are you up for it?"

It took Melissa a minute to grasp what he was talking about and then she got it. "Yes, Sir, I most certainly am."

Greer looked at both of them confusedly and said, "What are the two of you talking about?"

The colonel and Melissa grinned at each other after which Melissa said, "Sorry Sergeant. It's an old team joke. I qualified to be on the Colonel's team with my degrees in botany and physics, but after I was posted to the SGC, Dr. Daniel Jackson began teaching me the Ancient language. I learned it well enough to use it on missions, but no one was really expecting us to know Ancient. That's why we call it my secondary talent. Dr. Rush doesn't even know I can read it."

Greer said, "Ok, I get it now. We'll know if Rush is telling us the truth because you can read the same language

"You're sharp, Sergeant," stated Young. "At this point, I trust Melissa more than I trust Rush. So, let's go see if we can dial the gate home." They reached the Gate Room, and Everett sent Melissa over to work with Sergeant Riley at one of the consoles after explaining her fluency level with the language. It only took about fifteen minutes for them to find something. Riley called Young and Greer over. "Sir, I think we've got it. It wasn't even that hard to find—it's right here in the dialing program."

Young asked, "You sure?"

"Yes, it's an eight symbol address," Riley replied.

Greer looked at the three of them. "You mean you can dial this thing back to Earth?"

Melissa stated, "There's no point of origin indicated, but, still, there's only thirty-six symbols on this gate. We're assuming the ninth symbol represents some x-factor distance location." She glanced at Riley who nodded his head in agreement.

"Well, I don't care," said Young. "Start dialing."

"We don't want to bring Dr. Rush in on this, Sir?" asked Riley.

Missy shook her head, "We don't need to, Sergeant. It wasn't that hard to find."

"Exactly, Dr. Mitchell," remarked Young. "Rush probably already knows and didn't tell us so go ahead and dial, Sergeant."

Sergeant Riley began the dialing sequence which set off an alarm in the Control Room where Dr. Rush and Eli had been working. Rush glanced at the console and realized what's happening. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no."

"What?" asked Eli.

"Someone's dialing the gate," replied Rush. He ran out of the room followed by Eli, who grabbed a kino, Dr. Brody, and Dr. Park. They raced into the Gate Room where they saw the gate spinning. Dr. Rush also saw who was standing nearby. "Colonel Young, you're up."

Young said, "Nice to see you too, Rush. I did order you to report to me."

Rush acknowledged that the request had been made. "Yes, but what are you doing?"

"We're trying to dial Earth."

"That would be a mistake."

"Riley and Dr. Mitchell here think they've found the address for home."

Rush scoffed, "His understanding of Ancient is marginal at best, and I didn't know Dr. Mitchell even knew Ancient."

"That would be where you would be wrong, Rush," replied Melissa. "I've already surprised you once. Count this as number 2." Young turned, gave her a quizzical look to which Melissa mouthed 'later,' and then interrupted, "They said the address wasn't that hard to find, Rush."

"No, no," said Rush, "this is a complete waste of power."

A voice sounded from behind them. It was Lieutenant Scott. He said, "We have the address back. All we need is the right point of origin."

"And we've got thirty-six tries," said Young.

Rush exclaimed, "We barely have enough power to operate the main systems! This ship simply doesn't have the capability to dial Earth."

"That's news to me," stated Young.

Eli piped up, "He didn't tell me that either."

"Well, I've only just learned that myself," replied Rush, and turning to Eli, he said, "And you know what I've been doing."

Young remarked, "Even if it doesn't work, the people on this ship need to see us at least try."

"So, what," scoffed Rush, "You're going to drain what little power we have for the sake of morale. How ridiculous!"

Behind Rush, the Stargate stops spinning, and its illuminated chevrons go out. Then a shimmer briefly envelops everyone, like it did not long after they arrived on the ship. As it dissipates, the engines sound as if they're starting to power down.

"What was that?" asked Melissa.

Colonel Young took out his radio and asked into it, "Anyone near the observation deck?"

A moment later they heard a response from Lieutenant Johansen. "Colonel, it looks like we've dropped out of FTL."

"Because we were draining power," asked Riley.

Rush replied, "No, no, if I'm right, the gate should begin to dial at any moment." About two seconds later, the gate did light up and begin to dial. As the first chevron locked, Scott turned to Rush, "How did you know that?"

Rush replied, "The ship detected a Stargate on a planet within range that may have what we need."

"What?" exclaimed Young. "Why the hell are there even Stargates out here?"

"The Ancients sent out a number of unmanned ships ahead of this one. They're programmed to gather data, resources, then manufacture Stargates and deposit them on habitable worlds. Any relevant information is relayed back here to help plot the course."

Young asked, "You're telling me the ship knows we're in trouble?"

"Yes, because I told it we were. Essentially we're flying on autopilot. This ship may have stopped when it was within range of a Stargate regardless of our need, but I have reason to believe…" Dr. Rush's voice trailed off as the Stargate kawooshed.

"So," said Young, "what we need is on the other side of that wormhole?"

"An educated guess?" stated Rush. "Yes."

"Well, there's one way to find out." Young begins limping towards the Stargate.

Riley said, "You can't do that, Sir. We have no idea what's on the other side."

"We can use the Kino to find out," said Eli, using the remote control to send it whizzing into the event horizon.

Rush stated, "I suspect that's the purpose of the device."

Immediately, the console where Dr. Park and Melissa were standing started beeping. "We're getting readings over here," said Park

"What have we got?" asked Young.

Park replied, "Temperature, gravity, atmospheric composition, barometric pressure,…"

Melissa added, "oxygen, nitrogen, very little CO2, extremely low humidity. Habitable, but just barely."

The kino was also sending back a visual image showing what looked like a desert. "Good enough," said Rush.

Mr. Brody, who was standing at a second console, said, "Looks like four other addresses came up here too. They could be other planets within range. Maybe we should think about dialing them up and…."

Rush, who had walked over to look at Brody's console, said, "No, no, no. They're locked out. The ship chose this one, the Stargate is open. All we have to do is step through."

Young shook his head, "No, what we have to do is put a team together."

Spotting an illuminated panel over the door, Brody spoke up to get Rush's attention, "Dr. Rush."

Rush turns and looks at what Brody is indicating. "Looks like our time might be limited."

"What is it?" asked Young.

"It's a countdown. Just over 12 hours left."

"What happens then?"

Rush replied, "I suspect we jump back into FTL."

Shortly afterwards, Rush and Young have gathered together some of the crew and were discussing who should be on the away team. Rush said, "Palmer is a geologist-obviously she should go. Franklin, Brody, and Mitchell are the best of the rest of what we have."

"Thanks for the ringing endorsement," stated Franklin.

"He didn't even mention me," said Dale Volker who was an astrophysicist.

Young said, "Franklin goes, the rest stay. We're still going to need good people working on the problem from this end."

Rush nodded in agreement. Then a voice piped up that no one expected. "I'd like to go," said Eli. Everyone turned to look at him.

"Really?" asked Young.

Eli nods and says, "If I can help, then…."

Rush interrupts, "Colonel Young, please."

"What? You don't think I can handle it," asked Eli. He points at Franklin. "He's going."

Franklin said, "I've been offworld before."

Young said to Eli, "You have made a habit of pulling our asses out of the fire." He continued talking to Eli, but turned to Rush to emphasize his decision. "Eli, you want to go, you're going." and then continues, "The only one I'm questioning now is you, Dr. Rush."

Rush laughed in disbelief and said, "Well, besides Palmer, I'm the only one who knows what we're looking for. We have twelve hours to find what we need and then get back on the ship."

"You're sure you can't stop it?" asked Young.

"No, we're just along for the ride for now," said Rush.

"Well, then wouldn't we all be better off on the planet?"

Rush replied, "Well, that's another reason I should go; someone to assess whether long term survival there is even an option."

"Right, ok." Young then gazed at the group. "I want everyone clear that Scott is in charge of this mission. Let's gear up, find whatever supplies we have and move out."

Everyone left the room except for Young, Scott, and Melissa. Scott said, "Sir, about Eli."

"He volunteered," said Young.

Scott stated, "He's not trained for this."

"Just like a lot of people on this ship. I'm going to need to know what they're made of."

"He'll slow us down."

"Well, if he does, you send him back to the gate. Listen, if we're gonna make it – and I'm not just talking about the next few hours – we're gonna need everyone on board to step up." Scott nodded in understanding and began to leave the room. "Lieutenant," said Young. Scott turned around and Young told him, "Keep an eye on Rush." Scott nodded once more and left.

Melissa, who had been standing to one side, said, "Those were good choices, Ev. They'll find what we need."

Everett said, "I would have sent Peter. I know he would have found it, but I'm assuming he didn't make it off Icarus."

Melissa shook her head sadly, reached into her pocket, and handed him the tags. Everett looked at both sets and closed his eyes in grief. She reached up and touched his face, "We're gonna make it, sweetheart."

He clasped her hand and said, "I know, Missy, as long as you're with me, I know." They then went to the Gate Room to see the team off. Ten minutes later everyone was ready to head through the gate. Scott said, "We'll be back, Sir."

"Good luck," said Young. Scott then turned and walked through the gate followed by Greer, Eli, Franklin, Palmer, and an additional marine. Dr. Rush brought up the rear and stopped at the event horizon to look back at Young, who nodded at him. Rush gazed at him with a smile on his face, then turned and entered the event horizon. The next moment he was on the planet with the other members of the away team. There were white sand dunes in all directions, and the sun was dazzling. Lieutenant Scott instructed Franklin, "Make sure we can dial back to the ship."

"Already on it," he replied. Franklin turned back to the gate while Palmer was on her knees feeling the sand. Rush knelt down beside her. She said, "This looks like gypsum."

"That would be good," stated Rush.

Scott asked, "Why?

"We're looking for calcium carbonate," replied Palmer.

"Calcite," added Rush.

Palmer said, "Gypsum is calcium sulphate, which is thirty-six percent calcium carbonate." She took a glass flask from her pack and shoveled some sand in it. Rush then poured some water from his canteen into it. Moments later the sand dissolved, and Scott asked, "Are you saying we can use this sand to fix the scrubbers?"

"That would be convenient," said Eli.

Palmer replied, "No."

"Well, it a fair indication that the components may exist nearby," said Rush.

Palmer added, "For the sake of portability and efficiency, I'm hoping to find high concentration granular limestone." As she held the flask up, Dr. Rush held a small torch underneath to heat up the water. "We are looking for the dried lake bed or salt water body all this sand came from."

"It's a desert!" exclaimed Eli.

"Lime is formed mostly from the remains of marine organisms," remarked Palmer.

Scott asked, "Are you saying there was life here?"

"Not like anything we've ever seen before," replied Rush.

Back at the gate, Franklin was typing onto a hand-held device from the ship. The Stargate lit up and began to spin as Scott and Greer walked to higher ground. Palmer and Rush figured out that they couldn't use any of the sand near the gate as the sand wasn't high enough in calcite concentration. Behind them, the Stargate finished its cycle and kawooshed. Franklin yelled out, "We're good!"

Scott activated his radio, "This is Scott. Unfortunately there's nothing useful in the immediate vicinity of the gate."

Colonel Young responded, "You have twelve hours, Lieutenant. Make 'em count."

"Copy that," replied Scott. The Stargate closes down and Scott calls down to the group by the gate, "We're moving out!" The team started to gather their equipment while Scott turns to Greer, "Too bad we just can't use the sand. There certainly is enough of it."

Meanwhile, on the Destiny, Melissa had been going through the data base with Dr. Park and Mr. Brody. There was a lot of information, but a lot more of the information was blocked from the console so they were trying to figure out the best way to work around it. Colonel Young walked up to them and asked, "How's it going?"

Melissa looked up and smiled, "Very tediously, Sir. I'll let you know when we find something."

"Can I speak with you for a second, Doctor?" he asked and said to the other two, "I'll send her right back."

"Sure," said Melissa.

They walked out to the hallway and into a room that was vacant. Everett said, "I just wanted to let you know I was going to use the communication stones to report in, Melissa."

"Oh, ok, Ev" she replied. "What do you need me to do?"

"Well, I'm going to put TJ in charge. I want you, Brody, and Park to continue going through the data base."

"I can do that." She gave him an uncertain look. "You know, it's going to be weird seeing your body, and knowing it's not you. You won't be gone long, right?"

Everett heard the catch in her voice and gently smiled at her. "That's why I brought you in here." He opened his arms, and they gave each other a long hug. "I love you, baby. Don't forget that, and if you start to…," he took her hand and, together with his hand, placed it on her stomach where they could feel the beginnings of a small bulge. "Just remember, our love is right here." He leaned over and said to her stomach, "Take care of mama, little angel. I'll be back soon."

Melissa chuckled as she felt a small kick in response to his touch, "I think she heard you, Ev. You always know the right thing to say to me. Listen, if you get a chance to talk to or send a message to Cameron, please tell him I'm sorry."

"I will, sweetheart," said Everett. "I'm also going to make sure the divorce papers got to Anna. I had sent them up in the mail packet about four hours before we were attacked."

"That sounds good. I'm going to head back to the gate room. Please tell TJ to let me know if she needs anything."

"I will," he replied. "I'm also going to see if Chloe wants to come so she can tell her mother about the Senator."

"I think that's a good idea, Ev. I'll see you when you get back."

"Sounds good, Babe." They hugged, kissed and then headed out of the room in different directions – Melissa back to the Gate Room and Everett over to the crew sleeping quarters. He asked someone where Chloe was, and the person directed him to her door. It was open, and he could see where she was sitting on the bed. He limped in and sat down beside her. Before he could say anything, she said, "I'm fine."

Young said, "No, you're not. Well, neither am I, but we're still alive because of what he did.

"Look, for what it's worth….," said Chloe.

"Well, it's worth a lot, you know, and as long as we're still here, I promise you…"

"Colonel, I've edited enough of my father's speeches to know what you're going to say."

"You don't have a clue what I was going to say, because I don't.

She's silent for a moment which allows him to speak. "We brought along an Ancient device—communication stones. They allow us to…."

"Yeah, I know what they are."

"Good. Well, I'm about to use one of them to report to my superiors on Earth, tell them our situation." Young looks at Chloe, waiting to see if she understands what he's offering her. After a moment, she gets it. "I want to tell her myself."

Meanwhile, back in the Milky Way Galaxy on Earth, Colonel David Telford is sitting in Dr. Lee's lab in the Pentagon, meditating. One of the communication stones is sitting nearby resting on top of its control box. A woman in civilian clothing, whose name was Dr. Mehta, walks in and goes over to him just as he wakes up and tilts his head from side to side to work out the stiffness. She said to him, "You've been sitting here since Rush made contact. Let somebody else take a shift."

Telford shook his head briskly. "I'm not leaving this chair. I've been on this project for the last four months, and I'll be damned if I…" His voice trailed off sounding vague and confused.

"Colonel," said Mehta. She still saw Telford in the chair, but he had been taken over by Colonel Young. He looked up at her for a moment, and then looked down at his uniform and his hands. He lifted his head and looked at Telford's image on the computer screen in front of him. "This-this is strange," he stammered.

Mehta asked, "Doctor Rush, is that you?"

"No, it's Colonel Young. I need you to put me in a room with General O'Neill." Everett stood up slowly to adjust to being in a fitter body than the one he had left behind, and then turned to her. "I'm gonna need you too."

Back on the Destiny, Colonel Telford, who was now in Young's body, was lying flat on his face on the floor, as TJ kneels over him. Young had arranged for TJ to be there just in case something like this happened. She said, "Sir, I told you not to get up."

Telford rolled painfully onto his back. "What did he do to himself?" he asked pointing to Young's body.

She replied, "He's got cracked ribs, more bruises than I can count, and a concussion that resulted in neurapraxia."

"Well, that's just great!" TJ helped Telford to sit up and then gazes at the woman who is standing nearby. "Chloe?" she asks.

The other woman shook her head. "Dr. Mehta."

"Can you help me please?" She came over and assisted TJ in getting Telford to his feet. At the same time this was happening, Young and Chloe were in General O'Neill's office on Earth. O'Neill walked over to Chloe and said, "You know, I had some of my favorite arguments with your father."

Chloe smiled as she asked, "Are you saying you won some?"

"Depends on who you ask," replied O'Neill. He smiled at her sympathetically and then gestured to a man standing nearby. "Listen, Major Green will be escorting you to see your mother. Please give her my condolences."

"Thank you." Chloe nodded to Young and left the room followed by the major. O'Neill closed the door and turned to Young. He asks, "So, how's it going out there, really?"

"I don't know what Rush has told you, but we may not have much time. The ship is very old and falling apart."

"Fix it."

"We're trying. Even if we can get the life support working, we don't have much food and water."

"Then go get some."

"We're not supposed to be there, Sir. These are the wrong people in the wrong place, and, as a group they're just not qualified."

"Oh, please!" exclaimed O'Neill as he reached into a drawer and put a thick envelope on the top of his desk. "I wasn't qualified to lead that first team through the stargate…"

Young said, "I understand that, sir…." His voice trailed off as he recognized the handwriting on the envelope. "Sir, why do you have my divorce papers?"

O'Neill leaned back in his chair. "I thought you would ask that, Everett. We have some personal business to go over as well. First, the mail bag was delivered here when the Hammond returned as we weren't sure how to handle family notifications for your group, and we were also still identifying all the deceased from that fiasco on Icarus. Then I came upon these little gems." He pointed to the papers. "When I asked Carter about it, she had quite the interesting tale."

"What do you mean, Sir?"

"Well, apparently, the night before your group shipped out to Icarus, your, I guess, ex-wife now put on quite the display at Cam Mitchell's house."

Young replied, "Yes, she did. She wanted to know what went on in the mountain and said if she didn't find out, that she wanted a divorce. I said, fine, that I couldn't tell her, and if she wanted a divorce, to go ahead and file." He pointed to the papers. "That's the result. I signed them and sent them to the Hammond four hours before we were attacked."

"That's essentially what Carter said. Anyway, I haven't been home in two days, and you're most of the reason why."

"Sir?"

"First, you need to know Anna is dead. There was a car accident in Colorado Springs—she was DOA at the hospital. The police tried to call you—couldn't get you, tried to call Melissa—couldn't get her either, and then they called the mountain and got Landry who passed it onto Cam."

Young shook his head and closed his eyes. "I'm sorry, Sir."

"It's not your fault, Everett," stated O'Neill. "We do this for all personnel who are off-world. Before I go any further though, you do have Missy Mitchell with you, don't you? She's ok, right?

"Yes, she's fine, Sir," said Young. "On the Destiny and helping with the data base."

The general gave a big sigh of relief and said, "Daniel will be glad his teaching is being put to good use, and there are several people in the Springs who will be happy to know. And don't worry about the arrangements. Landry's given SG1 the next week off to take care of it."

"Thank you, Sir. You said there was more?"

"Oh, yes, lots more." He started pacing around the room. "Anna was pregnant."

Young sat up straight in the chair and exclaimed, "What!"

"Apparently, it wasn't yours though. Listen, Carter just found this out from Daniel yesterday as he and Vala had promised Cam they wouldn't say anything."

"Ok, now I feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone, Sir."

"Now, you know how I felt. Anyway, do you remember the emergency mission SG1 had to go on the night before you left?"

"Yes."

"Well, they came back four days later, and Landry gave them some down time. Cam went home, where apparently Anna came over and accused you of having a long-term affair with Missy. He was upset enough that Anna got him to go away with her, and they had, what Daniel nicely termed, revenge sex. Cam realized he had made a big mistake after he came back, but he was so ashamed of himself, he wouldn't listen to Daniel and Vala about talking to Melissa and made them promise not to say anything."

"Oh no," said Everett who realized this was rapidly deteriorating into a conversation where he knew the general would not be pleased with the end result.

O'Neill remarked, "Oh yes," and then looked at the expression on Young's face. "Don't tell me, Everett. Was any of that true?"

Everett thought for a moment and decided that all of it needed to come out. "Well, about the long-term part, that was false, and if you think otherwise, you don't know Melissa very well."

"Go on," replied O'Neill in an intimidating voice.

"But since Anna walked out on me….."

The general realized immediately what he meant and yelled, "Dammit Everett! I ought to string you up! Melissa is like my daughter, and I promised George I would take care of her when he passed."

"Sir, it's not like that," said Everett. "We love each other and finally got the courage to admit it before we left. I've asked her to marry me as well, and she's said yes."

O'Neill's expression softened as looked at the anguished expression on the other man's face. "I guess I've known this day was coming for the last four years."

"What?"

"You don't remember spending time in B'aal's pleasure palace four years ago? I most certainly remember that time. We searched and searched for you and Missy for six weeks, and when we got you back, I watched as the both of you recovered from sarcophagi addiction, watched as the only way we could keep you calm in the infirmary was to put your beds next to each other. And then, I did both of your zatarc tests when you both conveniently left out of your reports about that nifty little device B'aal came up with—you know the one that told him who the most important person in each of your lives were. He used that to torture and kill each of you many times over and made the other one watch. I was very surprised we didn't have more fall-out from that one. It was a testament to how strong the two of you were."

A haunted expression came over Ev's face. "Yeah, I do remember. Anna couldn't understand why I would wake up screaming Melissa's name."

"I came real close to pulling her off your team then, Everett, but she had fought so hard to be seen as someone other than George Hammond's daughter, I didn't have the heart, and as the two of you agreed to leave it in the room….."

"Part of me wishes I hadn't, Sir, but I knew we wouldn't see near as much of each other if we weren't on the same team."

"Yep," said O'Neill who had a faraway look on his face. "I know all about leaving it in the room which was the other reason I kept your team together."

Suddenly Young remembered something. "Sir, I found out about your involvement with a bet at Cameron and Melissa's wedding, something about it not lasting because of how she and I felt about each other."

"Ahh, you found out about that too. I knew that her marriage to Cameron was a mistake, but I didn't know how to fix it without changing her team assignment, and I knew she wouldn't want that."

"Anyway, Sir, I know you'll be passing this along to Cameron. Missy asked if you would please tell him that she's sorry. She was planning to do that herself when we got back."

"I will, and I'll make sure he goes ahead and files as well."

"Thank you," said Everett. "Sir, there's one other thing. I know I said we're on a thread right now, but I wanted you to know that I'm bound and determined we're going to figure this thing out and get back here for one additional reason."

O'Neill said, "I'm glad to hear that. And the additional reason would be?"

Everett gazed at him directly knowing this would be the best way to handle it. "Melissa's pregnant. She just found out before the attack and told me when we got to the Destiny—something about alcohol, sex, and the bc shots not mixing together very well."

Closing his eyes to calm the raging headache that was threatening to come back, O'Neill knew it would do no good to yell again so he spoke softly. "How far along is she? How did she take it?"

"She's four months. It's a little girl, Sir. Sims did an ultrasound before the attack and gave her a picture. She's scared—we're both scared, but we are bound and determined to see this through. That's how much I love her."

Hearing the sincerity in the younger man's voice, O'Neill nodded, "That's what I wanted to hear. Do you want to hear my prediction? I think you'll make it for that very reason alone."

"Thank you, Sir."

"You're welcome." O'Neill stood up. "We should go see if Miss Armstrong is back. Oh, there's one more thing. Please send Melissa my love and tell her she's very much missed. And you, you take care of her. I want to hold that baby someday, or at least, teach her how to play football."

Everett chuckled, "I'll do that, Sir." They walked out of his office into the reception area where Chloe and Major Green were waiting for them. O'Neill then took them over to the lab where the communication stones were. They arrived at the lab a few minutes later. Before Young and Chloe could re-activate the stones, O'Neill told them, "I know it's not a whole lot, but you have the thoughts and prayers of this whole department behind you. And we are working the problem of getting you back here from this end."

Young said, "Thank you, Sir. We appreciate everything you're trying to do."

"And Colonel," said O'Neill. "Remember what I said for you to tell Dr. Mitchell.

"I do, and please tell Cameron and the rest of SG-1 I appreciate what they are doing for me this week."

"I will." Chloe and the colonel then turned back to the stones and activated them.

Back on the Destiny, a few hours earlier, Melissa, Mr. Brody, and Dr. Park had continued searching through the data base. They had found a great deal of information on the ship's original mission, but the files on the ship itself had continued to be elusive. And, of course, while they were working, TJ had brought Colonel Telford and Dr. Mehta in the Gate Room for the grand tour. Telford had ordered them to keep dialing the gate to the planet even with the power issues and to see if they could work-around the four addresses that the ship had blocked. Melissa had decided at that point that Telford was a jerk and that she really didn't appreciate the way he was abusing Everett's body. She gave TJ a concerned glance as they left, and the medic nodded back at her. Later on, as she was getting tired of standing at the console, she got a call on her radio, "Johansen to Mitchell."

Missy responded, "This is Mitchell. Go ahead."

"Could you report to the crew sleeping quarters, please?"

"Copy that." Melissa told the other two scientists she would return in a little while and hurried to the quarters where they had brought Everett when they had first arrived. Moments later, she was standing in the room and saw where Ev was lying on the bed unconscious. "What the hell!"

"It's ok, Melissa," stated TJ. "I had to sedate Telford when he wouldn't listen to me."

Missy asked, "Where's Mehta?"

A voice piped up from the door. "Not here anymore," said Chloe.

Melissa gave a sigh of relief. "Good, you both are back."

TJ remarked, "I thought the colonel would appreciate waking up to a familiar face, and I thought you might need to get off your feet for a while. I'll let Brody and Park know you're on medical orders to rest."

"You thought right, TJ," replied Missy who sat down on the bed and slipped her boots off thankfully. "How long will it take for him to wake up?" she asked motioning to the colonel.

"Not anymore than an hour. I'll check back with you then." TJ and Chloe turned to leave, but Chloe swung back around and asked, "You're Dr. Mitchell, right?"

Melissa smiled warmly at the younger woman, "Yes, I am."

"I'm sure Colonel Young has more to tell you, but I thought you would appreciate hearing that General O'Neill sends his love." She stared at her curiously and asked, "You know General O'Neill?"

"Yes, I do. He's an old family friend. Thanks for telling me. And please Chloe; feel free to call me Melissa."

"I will. Thanks Melissa." TJ and Chloe then headed out of the room. While she was waiting for Ev to wake up, Missy sat on the bed watching him and massaging her lower calves. The minutes passed by slowly, and she started getting a little concerned. She patted her stomach, and said, "Well, little one, your daddy got back from body switching. I just wish he would wake up."

A drowsy voice answered from her left, "I'm awake now, baby. Why do I feel like I've been drugged?"

Missy turned quickly and saw Ev's half-opened eyes watching her. "Good to have you back, sweetheart."

Ev tried to sit up and said, "Son of…what the hell was Telford doing?

"Well, he wasn't treating your body real nicely. TJ finally got fed up and sedated him."

"Remind me to thank her," Ev said as he struggled to a sitting position with Melissa's help. He glanced at his watch and saw where there was just a few hours left on the mission clock. "We need to go check in, Babe. Can you help me, please?

"Sure, just let me put my boots back on." Missy quickly reached down and slipped on her boots. She then assisted Everett in standing up and gave him the rifle he had been using for a crutch. After she had him standing, she asked, "You got it, Ev?"

"Yep," he replied and then added, "I have lots to tell you, Missy, but it's going to have to wait."

Melissa said, "I understand, sweetheart. I'm just glad to have you back." She touched his arm gently as he gave her an affectionate smile. They then left the room and went down the corridor to the Gate Room. When they got there, they walked into some excitement as the gate was open. Sergeant Riley and some marines were assisting Franklin, who had been shot, and Dr. Rush who had just come through the gate. Colonel Young limped over to Dr. Rush and asked, "What's going on?"

Rush took off his sunshades, turned his sunburned face up to Young and replied, "Oh, we've had a lovely day at the beach. How about you?"

Young rolled his eyes and laughed sarcastically. He said, "Update, Rush. I need an update."

"Of course," he replied. "Scott is still hunting for the lime, and Greer has gone back for him. We lost Palmer and Curtis because they were stupid and dialed one of the other planets that was locked out of Destiny's systems. The only reason we didn't lose Franklin was because I had Greer shoot him."

The colonel gritted his teeth and said, "Wonderful. How about Eli?"

"He's waiting at the gate." Rush glanced up at the Ancient clock. "We only have three more hours before the ship jumps back into FTL."

"Alright, we need to send them some help." Everett took out his radio and spoke into it, "Lieutenant James, report to the Gate Room please. I need you for a search and rescue on the planet."

Those closest to the radio heard her reply, "Understood, Sir." A few minutes later, the lieutenant and two other marines stepped through the gate to the planet. She gasped in amazement as she looked around at the desert, but then her attention was caught by a badly sunburned Eli who was standing at the bottom of the ramp. "Eli," she said as she trotted down the ramp and handed him a new kino. "Which way?"

Eli promptly started typing onto his hand-held device, but took a moment to point the way that the search team should go. James nodded at him in thanks and said to her team, "Let's move out."

Back on the Destiny, TJ took Franklin to one of the sleeping quarters to remove the bullet in his shoulder, and Chloe went with her to help. Dr. Rush decided to see if it would be possible to clean some of the scrubbers and took Melissa and some of the other scientists to assist him. Once they began taking the goo-encrusted scrubbers out of the walls and attempting to clean them, however, he shook his head displaying his lack of confidence that this would actually work. Thirty minutes before the Ancient countdown was due to be over, Melissa, along with several of the other scientists, began having trouble breathing so they all decided to stop. She went back to the Gate Room, and when she saw Everett standing on the gantry above, she walked up the stairs and sat against one of the walls to catch her breath once she got there. Placing her hands across her belly protectively, she gave him a weak smile and said, "Hey."

"Hey yourself. Did the cleaning do any good?" he asked.

"Nope. Rush says we're not going to make it if they don't get back," she told him.

Everett nodded as he hadn't been expecting anything else. He slid down next to her and clasped her hand. "You know, I just have two regrets."

"Bet they're the same as mine," she replied.

"Ok, you can go first," he told her.

"One is that we weren't able to get married."

He smiled at her and said, "That would be one. What's the other one?"

Melissa pointed to her belly, "The other one is that our little angel is never going to be born."

Ev acknowledged her statement with a sad smile. "Babe, you and I are so in synch it's scary." He put his arm around her and said the words he had said earlier, "You can close your eyes, Missy, I've got you."

She relaxed in his embrace and said to him, "Thanks Ev. I feel safe now." He thought to himself, 'God, if this doesn't work, please let her keep feeling safe until it's over.'

Meanwhile, down in the Gate Room, Dr. Rush looked at the Ancient countdown above the door and announced, "Less than three minutes before the ship jumps again."

Brody, looking at his console, almost simultaneously said, "Incoming!" The gate's chevrons lit up, and it started to spin. Melissa stood up and offered a hand to Everett as he got back on his feet. "Thanks Missy."

On the desert planet, the gate kawooshed as Eli, who had just dialed the address, turned to Lieutenant James and her colleagues who had returned from their search. James said to him, "I'll stay here."

"It's ok," said Eli.

"No."

"I've got it." He gestured to the ramp, and the three soldiers went up it and through the gate. When they arrived on Destiny, James reported to Young, "Sorry, sir."

He said, "You did your best."

Back on the planet, Eli watched the footage from the kino which he had sent out to search for Scott and Greer. He shook his head despairingly as it showed nothing but sand.

On the Destiny, everyone turned to look at the countdown clock as it beeped and turned red. Rush said, "Less than one minute."

In the desert, the kino footage still showed just sand, but then it showed two figures coming over the top of a nearby dune. Eli gasped in relief, grabbed his radio and exclaimed, "I see them! They're carrying something."

Greer yelled, "We've got it! Don't go! We've got it!"

Eli said into his radio, "They've got the lime! And they're not gonna make it!"

On the Destiny, Sergeant Riley said, "Forty seconds."

Rush hurried over to one of the marines and gestured for his radio. "Give me that." He took the radio out and activated it. "Eli, I want you to stick your arm into the event horizon of the puddle."

Eli squeaked, "Seriously?"

Young said quietly to Rush, "You sure?"

"No," replied Rush, "but I'm betting there's some kind of safety protocol that prevents something getting cut of halfway through."

"And what if there isn't?"

"Twenty seconds," announced Riley.

Realizing he has no other choice but to risk Eli's life, Rush activated his radio again, "Eli, do it now!"

Grimacing and cringing, Eli slowly pushed his arm into the event horizon. Still cringing, he looked around as Scott and Greer hurried toward the gate. He exclaimed, "Come on! Come on!"

On Destiny, Riley started the final countdown. "Five, four, three, two, one." The Ancient clock pinged and showed a recognizable zero. Destiny started to vibrate as if it wanted to jump to FTL, but couldn't because the stargate was still open. Everyone looked around anxiously as the vibrations increased, and then Scott and Greer raced through the gate with a bag between them and crashed to the floor gasping for breath. Seconds later Eli plunged through the event horizon and fell to the floor, holding his arm out and feeling it to check that it's still intact. The gate closed behind him. As a marine helped him up onto his knees, Rush hurried over to him and handed him a canteen. "Eli, drink." Eli took the canteen from him, and as he drank, Rush patted his arm and said, "Well done Eli, well done."

Nearby, Scott was coughing convulsively as someone tried to help him drink some water. Young called down to him, "Scott, look at me. Lieutenant, look at me!" As the young lieutenant focused on him, Everett said, "Well done!" Many of the lights in the Gate Room then went out, and the ship convulsed as the engines began to power up. Everyone looked around nervously, and moments later, the ship jumped back into FTL.

Sometime later, the lime sand had been converted into a fluid and was being poured into the tank of one of the scrubbers. Fitting the top back on, two of the crew carried it back to the hole in the wall and fit it in. The scrubber slotted back into position and activated and almost immediately CO2 started to bubble through it. In the Control Room, Eli pushed the button that would re-activate the air flow. He looked at the schematic on the console as the corridors, which were marked in a yellowish-red, began to light up green. He beckoned to Brody, Park, and Melissa. "Look."

The others hurried over to him just as he started to smile. Air began to hiss throughout the ship, and everyone took deep breaths and smiled in relief. Melissa thought to herself, 'Now, we have a chance,' as Everett, who was limping along the corridor next to the Control Room, stopped and took a deep lungful of air. He entered and said, "All of you, well done! Well done! I think everyone deserves a night of rest so if you haven't found quarters, go ahead and do so." Everyone, but Rush, headed out. "That means you too, Rush."

Rush said, "I want to check some things out. I'll rest in a little while."

"Alright," replied Young, "Suit yourself." He headed over to the crew quarters and got there a few minutes later after stopping to talk to a few of the marines. Hoping that Melissa had realized he wanted them to share quarters, he entered the room he had already gone in and out of twice that day. Everett sighed in relief when he saw her lying on the bed. He limped over, sat down, and started rubbing her back. She turned over, smiled, and said, "Hey sweetheart."

Gazing at her affectionately, he said, "Hi Missy."

"Are you done for the night?" she asked

"Yes, I thought if you weren't too tired I would tell you the news from Earth," he replied.

Melissa said, "Sure," and pulled herself up to a sitting position. Noticing that Everett had a little bit of an uncertain expression on his face, she asked, "What's wrong, sweetheart? Did something happen?"

"There's not an easy way to tell you this, Babe," he replied, "but Anna is dead."

"Oh, no," said Missy barely noticing that Ev was continuing to rub her back in a comforting circular motion. "What happened?" He proceeded to tell her everything-about the car accident, about Anna and Cam's brief affair and the resulting pregnancy, and about the accusations she had made. "So, what did Jack have to say about us?"

Ev chuckled as he replied, "Well, I told him everything, and at first, he wanted to string me up. But then I told him how much I loved you, and he said he'd been expecting something like this for four years."

It took Missy a minute to catch on, but then she said, "You mean, since B'aal."

"Yes."

"You know, that's when I first realized I loved you, but I didn't want to lose our team, and I've been running ever since. I am truly sorry for that, Ev." She opened her arms and gave him a hug which he returned.

"Babe, I've been just as bad. Will you accept my apology?"

"I will."

Ev continued, "You know, I told the general about the baby too, and he told me to make sure I took care of you. He also told me to send you his love and let you know that you are very much missed."

Melissa smiled as she thought of the man who had been like a second dad to her since the beginning of the stargate program and who had made sure she physically qualified when she was asked to join the program herself. "Good old Jack. He really took Dad's request seriously when he passed away last year." She thought for a second and then continued, "Who's taking care of the arrangements for Anna?"

"SG1. Landry's giving them the week off. Oh, and I didn't tell you, the general's going to make sure that Cam files for divorce as well."

"That's good, and Cameron's ok, right?"

"I think he will be, sweetheart. Sam, Daniel, Vala, and Teal'c will make sure he's ok."

"That's good," said Melissa who couldn't hold back a yawn at this point.

Everett smiled at her and said, "I think it's bedtime now."

"I think you're right," said Missy.

He took off his boots and stripped down to his undershirt and boxers as Melissa had already done. When he got in the bed with her, he put his arms protectively around her and noticed that the baby was kicking again. "Missy, did you feel that?"

"I did. She knows her daddy is here," she replied, reaching for one of his hands and squeezing it.

Ev tightened his grip around her. "Daddy, that's the best word in the whole world. I love you, sweetheart, with all my heart."

"I love you too. Good night."

"Good night."

As they drifted off to sleep, a small shuttle, which had been parked on one of the flat exterior surfaces of the ship, activated its shields and took off heading away from the Destiny and out into space.

.


End file.
